Citizens
For Legitimate Governmentis a multi-partisan
activist group established to expose and resist US imperialism, corpora-terrorism,
and the New World Order.

August
2002 Archives

August
31, 2002

Bush
Urged to Seek Congressional Support on Iraq Former Senate Majority
Leader Bob Dole stepped into the intensifying U.S. debate on Iraq on
Sunday, urging pResident Bush to seek congressional approval for any
plan to topple Saddam Hussein in order to present a united front.

Will
Bush go to war against Saddam? As the arguments about what to do
with Iraq drag on, the hawks and doves have been fighting their own
ruthless battle for the undecided mind [?!?]
of the pResident.

Police
prepare for 40,000 protesters to march Thousands of police and soldiers
are to be deployed today to marshall a mass protest at the earth summit
pressing for an array of demands, from land redistribution in South
Africa to an end to the Israeli occupation of the West Bank.

World
summit hears clamour of protest Thousands of demonstrators have
marched to the World Development Summit venue in Johannesburg, in the
first mass protest to take place since it opened on Monday. Many chanted
anti-American slogans and bore banners ridiculing US pResident George
W Bush.

CLG
announces the establishment of new, local charters to expose the coup
and counter the occupation. Please read the editorial announcement by
Thomas I. Ellis, Ph.D.: It’s
Satyagraha Time: A Manifesto " ...We firmly adhere to the unity
of means and ends, and therefore are sworn to nonviolence and compassion
for our enemies—even for Bush and Cheney themselves, once they relinquish
their fraudulent claim to political office. When the illegitimate Bush
regime is removed from power, we will be satisfied. But not before."

U.S.
Seeks GOP Campaign Papers The government sought a court order Friday
to force two Republican committees to turn over documents in a lawsuit
stemming from the new campaign finance law.

Bush
to Bypass Congress On 'Faith-Based' Initiative The White House plans
to implement elements of the charity program even if it doesn't get
lawmakers' approval. With pResident Bush's "faith-based" legislation
facing an uncertain fate, the White House [in
but another dictatorial move] is planning an aggressive effort
to implement parts of the program this fall even if Congress does not
approve, mis-ministration officials said yesterday.

Canada-US
troop deal 'close' The Canadian defence minister says Canada and
the United States are close to an agreement that would allow American
and Canadian soldiers to cross each other's borders in the event of
a terrorist attack. The minister, John McCallum, says the proposed agreementwould also allow both countries' ground troops to serve under
each other's command, for the first time. [Posse
Comitatus alert!! Hello? Anyone from Congress doing his or her job
that can STOP this regime???]

Webmaster
indicted for terror support A federal grand jury has indicted the
founder of the StopAmerica.org
Website on charges of aiding al-Qaida terrorists. [Fascist
regimes such as Bush's must shut down any and all opposition to its
terrorist campaigns at home and abroad.]

Support
For 1st Amendment Slipping Support for the First Amendment has eroded
significantly since Sept. 11 and nearly half of Americans now think
the constitutional amendment on free speech goes too far in the rights
it guarantees, according to a new poll.

Iraq
and Poison Gas -- by Dilip Hiro "It is suddenly de rigueur
for US officials to say, 'Saddam Hussein gassed his own people' [Halabja,
March 1988, etc.]... so strong was the hold of the pro-Iraq lobby on
the Republican administration of President Ronald Reagan, it succeeded
in getting the White House to frustrate the Senate's attempt to penalize
Baghdad for violating the Geneva Protocol on Chemical Weapons, which
it had signed. This led Saddam to believe that Washington was firmly
on his side--a conclusion that paved the way for his invasion of Kuwait
and the 1991 Gulf War, the full consequences of which have yet to play
themselves out."

Senate
committee members complying with FBI requests for records in leaks investigation
Most members of a Senate committee investigating the Sept. 11 attacks
have agreed to provide the FBI with details of their contacts with reporters as part of an investigation into
leaks of classified information. Some lawmakers, including the panel's
top Republican, Sen. Richard Shelby of Alabama, have said the FBI investigation
of the committees breached the separation of powers between the executive
and legislative branches — particularly while the committee was examining
intelligence shortcomings at the FBI and other agencies. [What
is Ashcroft trying to hide vis a vis the September 11th terrorist attacks?!?]

Progressive
Irrelevance?-- by Anis Shivani "By rejecting as 'conspiracy
theory' revelations about government foreknowledge and complicity [re:
9/11] in order to preserve its rationalist credentials, the left has
granted credibility to the enabling device. That's a losing move. The
way to understand Bush's presidency [sic] is to look at him as a forceful
dictator bent on doing as much harm as quickly as possible, not as a
bumbling right-wing fool who chanced on the presidency due to mishaps
in Florida."

Calif.
Senate OKs Family Leave Bill California took another step Friday
toward becoming the first state in the country to pass paid family leave
legislation, with the Senate voting to send the bill to Gov. Gray Davis.

Trade
Panel Says Europe Can Impose Penalties on U.S. The World Trade Organization,
the international arbiter in global trade disputes, ruled today that
the European Union can impose $4 billion in penalties on the United
States because an American tax break that promotes exports is illegal.

Summit
scoffs at US pitch on fixing global ills Taking the stage at the
second Earth Summit, the Bush mis-ministration struck a challenging
tone as it rolled out its "new approach" to reduce poverty and protect
the environment through partnerships with businesses, international
groups and friendly countries.

Summer
Smog May Have Doubled in 2002 - Green Group The number of times
unhealthy smog levels blanketed U.S. states rose 10 percent during the
summer of 2001, and may double this year, according to a study released
Thursday by the U.S. Public Interest Research Group.

Bush
Breaks Fund-Raising Record pResident Bush blazed new records in
raising campaign cash Thursday as events in two states — his 49th and
50th fund-raisers of the year — pushed his total to nearly $110 million.

Bush
Raises Campaign Money, Skirts Iraq Debate pResident Bush on Thursday
skirted growing debate over a potential attack on Iraq, focusing instead
on raising campaign cash and delivering a get-out-the-vote [?!?
Why? So Bush's installers can troll for vote-fraud once again?]
message for November elections.

Amid
Worldwide Skepticism, Cheney Again Slams Iraq Vice pResident Dick
Cheney on Thursday hammered home the U.S. case for pre-emptive action
against Iraq, brushing off a groundswell of unease among European allies,
Muslim states and broader world public opinion.

U.S.
Threats to Iraq Contested by Friend and Foe Speaking a day after
Vice pResident Dick Cheney had contended that the risk of inaction on
Iraq was "far greater" than the risk of action, Rumsfeld said pResident
Bush had not yet chosen to launch an invasion, but predicted that any
such decision would elicit broad international backing. No way, chorused
politicians from Beijing to Berlin.

Blair
losing influence on US over Iraq Downing Street struggling for coherent
policy as White House steps up rhetoric -- Tony Blair was last night
struggling to formulate an effective policy on Iraq, amid fears in Downing
Street over the prime minister's ability to exert any influence at all
on the US mis-ministration's policy towards Saddam Hussein.[Reason:
each and every day that Bush and his boss, Dick Cheney, wage warmongering
rhetoric, oil prices increase as Bush/Cheney's installers from the oil
industry are minimizing their oil purchases from Iraq. With one less
supplier from which to choose, oil prices can soar, to the delight of
Bush/Cheney's paymasters.]

Ex-U.S.
Attorney General Warns Against Iraq Strike Former U.S. Attorney
General Ramsey Clark urged the United Nations on Thursday to act to
prevent an assault on Iraq, saying that a military attack on Baghdad
could breed more violence. Clark, who said earlier that a strike against
Iraq would be a "massive crime against all international law," served
as attorney general under President Lyndon Johnson at the height of
the Vietnam War.

No
Way Out -- by Michael C. Ruppert "When the Iraqi invasion takes
place the U.S. government may have the benefit of U.N. or international
support, perhaps as a result of secret documents conveniently obtained
from the Iraqi embassy in Berlin during a recent temporary occupation
by an unheard-of dissident group. Those documents will show Iraqi government
connections to many of the 9-11 hijackers who lived in Germany before
the attacks. It makes no difference whether the documents are real or
not."

Mr.
Bush's War -- by Eric S. Margolis "US forces are rapidly massing
in the Gulf to invade Iraq. Four heavy brigades have been positioned
near Iraq, a huge new air complex is now operational in Qatar, and American
special forces are active in Iraqi Kurdistan. The White House is hoping
its threats of war will provoke a coup against Saddam Hussein by the
Iraqi Army. But if one does not come, the Bush Administration shows
every sign of plunging into an unprovoked war that the rest of the world
will view as blatant aggression."

Senators
Provide FBI With Contacts Most members of the Senate Intelligence
Committee have agreed to provide the FBI with details of their contacts
with reporters as part of an investigation into leaks of classified
information from a congressional inquiry into the Sept. 11 attacks.[Can
someone in Congress PLEASE stand up to Ashcroft's police state?]

Who’s
spying on my Hotmail? With new spyware, even your private Yahoo,
Hotmail e-mails can be seen -- A new version of eBlaster spyware will
secretly forward all e-mail coming and going through such Web-based
accounts to a spy’s e-mail, allowing anyone to "ride-along"
even the supposedly private e-mail.

The
Secret Sharers The CIA, the Bush Gang and the Killing of Frank Olson
-- by Chris Floyd "There is a thread running through modern American
history, a thin red cord that weaves in and out of the shifting facades
of reason and respectability that mask the brutal machinery of power...
It's a thread that runs from horrified young intelligence operatives
stumbling into the death camps of Nazi Germany to hardened agents running
assassination programs in the jungles of Vietnam to august men of state
building a shadow government with secret decrees authorizing tyranny,
murder, torture and deceit. It's a thread of moral corruption, corruption
by an idea, a temptation, a perversion of reason, the whisper of evil
that says: 'The end justifies the means.' "

Bush's
"Coup World Order" -- by Marcie Davis "The Bush regime wants
to decide who should lead nations like Venezuela, Zimbabwe and Iraq.
Why not? After all, they seized power in a judicial coup d'etat when
the Supreme Court illegally selected Bush. Why aren't we outraged?"

Little
Annie Fanny -- by Gene Lyons "If Ann Coulter were a relief
pitcher, she'd be in big trouble. Instead, she's a Republican attack-blonde,
the author of the number one non-fiction book on the New York Times
best-seller list, and a ubiquitous presence on TV talk shows. So you're
not supposed to take offense when Coulter spouts politicized bigotry
that makes ex-Atlanta Brave John Rocker's foolish remarks about queers,
weirdos and foreigners in New York sound benign by comparison. Nor to
point out that much of the so-called 'evidence' of liberal sins in her
book 'Slander' is simply made up—780 often phony footnotes and all."

Sept.
11 Restrictions on Foreign Flights Canceled The Bush mis-ministration
overturned a Pentagon plan to restrict foreign flights in New York and
Washington on Sept. 11 after discovering it would break international
agreements, officials said yesterday.

FBI:
Gore Letter Possibly From Jail The FBI is checking whether a letter
containing suspicious powder sent to former vice president Al Gore's
office originated from a Tennessee prison.

Democrats
Take Drought to Senate Campaign Trail The neon red banner featured
on U.S. Senate Majority leader Tom Daschle's Web site virtually shouts
the accusation, "The White House has refused to provide disaster assistance
for 196 days." Updated daily, the effort is designed to pressure Republicans
into backing a Democratic call for an estimated $5 billion in emergency
disaster assistance for farmers and ranchers suffering from an historic
drought.

Lack
of Basics Threatens World's Poor Delegates at the United Nations
Summit on Sustainable Development today emphasized the importance of
bringing water and sanitation to the millions around the world who struggle
without those essential services.

Tests
Negative on Gore Mail Powder Preliminary tests of a suspicious powder
sent to Al Gore's Nashville office have not found anthrax, a spokesman
for the president said Wednesday.

Democrats
For Governor United In Attacks On Jeb The three Democratic gubernatorial
candidates for governor met Tuesday in the only debate before the Sept.
10 primary, and as expected, they saved their most forceful jabs for
Gov. Jeb Bush.

Former
WorldCom CFO Sullivan Indicted WorldCom Inc.'s former top finance
executive was indicted on fraud charges on Wednesday in connection with
the $7.68 billion accounting scandal that forced the telecommunications
giant into the world's largest bankruptcy.

Moussaoui
Judge Demands FBI Answers In the span of a single day, the US government:
–Recanted claims three people and three organizations had deliberate
ties to al-Qaida. –Acknowledged that an al-Qaida leader believed to
have been killed may be alive and operating in eastern Iran. –Admitted
that two confidential sources in its investigation of another terror
suspect "have not been completely candid."

Righting
the nation / Courts are trimming Ashcroft's sails (Star Tribune)
"Put another nail in the coffin of the freedom-killing secrecy
policies of Attorney General John Ashcroft... It probably was inevitable
in the immediate aftermath of Sept. 11 that the American people, including
constitutional watchdogs and the press, deferred to the federal government
in its efforts to deal with this new and horrible threat. It was not
inevitable, however, that Ashcroft would use that deference to make
the Bill of Rights resemble a block of Swiss cheese."

Pressure
on Bush to back off Global outcry against Iraq attack -- pResident
Bush was facing overwhelming pressure from across the world last night
to step back from the brink of military action to oust Saddam Hussein.
Alarmed by growing rhetoric from leading hawks in Washington, key countries
from China to Saudi Arabia warned of the devastating consequences of
a US-led assault against Iraq.

Top
GOP Senator Wants Iraq Hearings The top Republican on the Senate
Armed Services committee said Wednesday he wants Defense Secretary Donald
H. Rumsfeld to appear before the panel to discuss how prepared U.S.
forces are for a war against Iraq.

Bush
May Request Congress's Backing on Iraq, Aides Say Senior mis-ministration
officials said today that they expected pResident Bush eventually to
seek some new explicit sign of approval from Congress — but not necessarily
a formal vote — before launching any military campaign against Iraq.

Saudi
Oil Key if U.S. Attacks Iraq Fear over war with Iraq has sent oil
prices higher, but Saudi Arabia and its oil dominance may well determine
whether a U.S. attack on Iraq will have worldwide impact on energy markets.

I'm
With Dick! Let's Make War! -- by Maureen Dowd "It was embarrassing
yesterday, given President [sic] Bush's swagger on Iraq, to watch him
fawn over the Saudis. At lunch at his ranch he entertained Prince Bandar,
the man who got private planes to spirit Osama bin Laden's relatives
out of the U.S. after the attacks. Mr. Bush also called Crown Prince
Abdullah yesterday to assure him of the 'eternal friendship' between
their countries and to soothe hurt Saudi feelings over a lawsuit filed
by 9/11 victims charging Saudi support of terrorism."

General
Suggests Extending U.S. Campaign to Afghan Neighbors A top U.S.
general suggested on Sunday that American-led anti-terror operations
needed to look also at countries neighboring Afghanistan. General Tommy
Franks, head of the U.S. Central Command, said the U.S. war on terror
could not be limited to Afghanistan.

Inarticulate,
and proud of it -- by James Carroll "As a candidate, Bush openly
displayed his willful illiteracy. At a loss for words, and proud of
it. Many voters were charmed. Others were appalled. Few understood,
however, that this abdication of leadership by the intelligent use of
language would be dangerous to democracy at home, a grievous threat
to peace abroad."

Suburban
Sprawl Blocks Water, Worsens U.S. Drought Suburban strip malls,
office buildings and other paved areas have worsened the drought covering
half the United States by blocking billions of gallons of rainwater
from seeping through the soil to replenish ground water, environmental
groups said on Wednesday.

Earth
Summit Confronts Global Water Crisis Earth Summit delegates on Wednesday
tackled ways to quench the planet's growing thirst and provide sanitation
to billions of the world's poor who do without either every day.

Court
refuses to reduce murder charge against Bhopal chief A court in
Bhopal, central India, refused yesterday to reduce the murder charge
against Warren Anderson, the former chief executive of Union Carbide,
for the gas leak from the company's pesticides plant in the city in
1984 which has killed thousands and maimed hundreds of thousands.

White
House Withholding Documents on Pardons Bush mis-ministration officials
said today that they were keeping secret more than 4,000 pages of Justice
Department documents related to a flurry of last-minute pardons by President
Bill Clinton to protect the right of all presidents[Well,
that certainly does not apply to Bush, then does it?] to
private deliberations.

White
Powder Scare at Al Gore's Tennessee Office An envelope addressed
to Al Gore spilled white powder when it was opened on Tuesday in a Nashville
office rented by the president, and investigators said the incident
appeared to be a prank. ["prank"
?!?]

'Suspicious
powder' sent to Gore office A staff member at President Al Gore's
office in Nashville discovered a "suspicious white powder" Tuesday in
a small envelope that was sent to the office. Officials have not yet
determined what the package contained.

CT
Joins Ashcroft's Execution Wish List Attorney General John Ashcroft
has added Connecticut to the list of states in which he has trumped
the decisions of local federal prosecutors. He has directed federal
prosecutors to seek a death sentence against a Bridgeport drug kingpin.
The case marks the first federal death penalty case in Connecticut,
and brings to 16 the number of times Ashcroft - in 18 months in office
- has overridden the recommendation of the prosecutors handling the
case and ordered them to pursue the death penalty.

Daggers
drawn in the house of Bush -- by Julian Borger "Vice-president
[sic] Dick Cheney's combative speech advocating a pre-emptive strike
against Iraq was intended to settle the most serious rift in US public
life right now, a conflict simmering not only within the Republican
party, but inside the Bush dynasty itself... But now the House of Bush
is divided and the courtiers are squabbling, while the hapless president
[sic] in the middle has very little to say."

Bush
Assails Hussein, but Saudis Are Firm in Opposing War pResident Bush
told Saudi Arabia's ambassador to the United States today that Saddam
Hussein was "a menace and a threat" to both his Middle East neighbors
and the United States. But after a meeting that lasted several hours,
Saudi officials said their position was unchanged — that war was not
acceptable and they would not cooperate in any military action.

Blair
faces defeat on Iraq Poll shows big drop in Labour support for attack
-- Tony Blair faces acute political embarrassment from damaging defeats
over Iraq at next month's TUC and Labour conferences after the results
of the latest Guardian/ICM poll disclosed sharply rising opposition
among Labour voters to American military action.

Belgium
warns Blair over US relationship Tony Blair got a fresh warning
of trouble ahead from Europe yesterday when the Belgian foreign minister
openly attacked him for "submissively" following the US lead on Iraq.

Congress:
[Dictator] Bush Needs Our Approval on Iraq Legal questions aside,
lawmakers say pResident Bush needs to seek Congress' approval before
sending American troops to attack Iraq because it's the right thing
to do. Vice pResident Dick Cheney warned of "grave consequences"
[like, losing big in the 2002 and 2004 elections]
from not acting quickly against Saddam Hussein.

Rumsfeld:
Allied Support Not Necessary For Action Against Iraq[Since
Rumsfled doesn't have it, what else is he to say?] The Bush
mis-ministration is casting Iraqi President Saddam Hussein as a menace
who cannot be appeased and suggesting that it may not wait for full
allied support before launching an attack.

Government
urged to reject US stand on international court Labor today called
on the government to reject United States requests to agree never to
hand American personnel to the International Criminal Court. The Australian
newspaper today reported that the US was mounting an aggressive push
for Australia to sign an agreement promising never to surrender any
US personnel to the ICC.

Senate
Report on Pre-9/11 Failures Tells of Bungling at F.B.I. A new Senate
report on intelligence failures before Sept. 11 has concluded that ignorance
and ineptitude of F.B.I. supervisors and lawyers in Washington blocked
field agents around the country from pursuing evidence that might have
helped provide the bureau with what one of the authors of the report
called a "veritable blueprint for 9/11."

INS
Reverses Post-9/11 Schools Rule Immigration officials on Monday
reversed a post-Sept. 11 security directive that would have barred Canadian
and Mexican students from enrolling part-time in U.S. colleges.

White
House Asked to Reject Utah Canyons Drilling The Bush mis-ministration's
energy policies came under attack on Monday by a coalition of small
businesses urging the White House not to allow oil drilling in southern
Utah's tourist-popular canyon areas.

Texas
to review Tulia drug raid Cornyn opens inquiry into '99 busts to
see if blacks were targeted -- Attorney General John Cornyn has opened
a state investigation into a 1999 Tulia drug bust that civil rights
groups say was racially motivated.

Bush
Seeks Secrecy For Clinton Pardon Discussions pResident Bush's lawyers
are trying to keep secret the inside stories of President Bill Clinton's
last-day pardons by invoking a claim of executive privilege that extends
far beyond the White House. In pleadings filed in U.S. District Court
here this month, including affidavits from White House counsel,the
Bush Fourth Reich contends that the privilege covers not only advice
given to a president about individual pardons, but also government papers
he has never seen and officials he has never talked to, such as the
sentencing judge in a particular case.

Court
Declares Bush Mis-ministration Acted Unlawfully The federal appeals
court in Cincinnati declared yesterday that the Bush
mis-ministration acted unlawfully in holding hundreds of
deportation hearings in secret based only on the government's assertion
that the people involved may have links to terrorism. The decision,
which was laced with stinging language questioning the administration's
commitment to an open democracy, is the first major appellate ruling
on the government's legal tactics concerning Sept. 11."A
government operating in the shadow of secrecy stands in complete opposition
to the society envisioned by the framers of our Constitution." So wrote
Judge Keith about the Bush (In)Justice Department.

Appeals
Court Rules Against Closed 9/11 Hearings A federal appeals court
on Monday ruled that the Bush mis-ministration violated the U.S. constitution
by holding secret immigration hearings for a figure under investigation
in the Sept. 11 attacks." A government operating
in the shadow of secrecy stands in complete opposition to the society
envisioned by the framers of our constitution," the 6th U.S.
Circuit Court of Appeals said.

Cheney
Lays Out Case for Pre-Emptive Action on Iraq[to
Take Everyone's Mind off of Enron, Harken, the Sinking Economy and the
Skyrocketing Deficit] Vice pResident Dick Cheney on Monday
laid out the White House's case for pre-emptive action against Iraq.
"With our help, a liberated Iraq can be a great nation once again,"
he said. [Many people feel that without the
Bush dictatorship, the United States can be a great nation, once again.]

U.S.
to Coach Baghdad's Opponents for Debate The Bush mis-ministration,
concerned it is losing the debate in world opinion over a possible war
with Iraq, this week is bringing 17 Iraqi dissidents from Europe and
North America to the State Department for lessons in how to effectively
communicate the reasons to depose Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein.

Don't
trust Bush or Blair on Iraq The Scott inquiry revealed the cynicism
of politicians' approach -- by Richard Norton-Taylor "This cynicism
and hypocrisy was matched only by the US. Soon after the attack [on
Halabja in March 1988], Washington approved the export to Iraq of virus
cultures and a $1bn contract to design and build a petrochemical plant
the Iraqis planned to use to produce mustard gas. And while the Reagan
administration condemned the use of chemical weapons during the eight-year
Iraq-Iran war, US officers were secretly supplying Iraqi generals with
bomb-damage assessments and detailed information on Iranian troop deployments."

The
government in the shadows Since September 11, some Americans believe
their basic freedoms are under siege from within. The Bush mis-ministration
is flirting with the possibility of America's military pursuing law
enforcement, a member of the US Civil Rights Commission has broached
the possibility of Arab-American internment, and the FBI's monitoring
of domestic dissent and Internet traffic has intimidated many into comparative
silence. There are fears that the organisation established to manage
disaster relief, the US Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA),
has evolved into an unseen threat to American life.

Forest
jobs touted by Bush are mostly already filled pResident Bush, voicing
sympathy for Oregon's high unemployment, said in Medford last week that
federal lands logging mandated under the Northwest Forest Plan "means
100,000 more jobs" for the region. But most of those jobs already exist.

Bush
on Fire -- by By Paul Krugman "Round up the usual suspects!
George W. Bush's new 'Healthy Forests' plan reads like a parody of his
administration's standard operating procedure. You see, environmentalists
cause forest fires, and those nice corporations will solve the problem
if we get out of their way. Am I being too harsh? No, actually it's
even worse than it seems. 'Healthy Forests' isn't just about scrapping
environmental protection; it's also about expanding corporate welfare."

Enron
Creditors Sue Kopper for $12 Million Enron Corp.'s creditors on
Monday sued former finance executive Michael Kopper for the $12 million
he agreed to forfeit as part of a guilty plea to fraud and money laundering
charges last week.

Wilmington
police photo policy under fire Two Wilmington police squads created
in June to arrest street-level drug dealers have taken pictures of at
least 200 people who were not arrested for any crimes. The pictures,
names and addresses of the people - mostly minority men - are being
used to create a database of potential suspects to investigate future
crimes, Police Chief Michael Szczerba said.

As
Multinationals Run the Taps, Anger Rises Over Water for Profit Already,
corporations own or operate water systems across the globe that bring
in about $200 billion a year. Yet they serve only about 7 percent of
the world's population, leaving a potentially vast market untapped.
Protesters are determined to limit that market.

Protester
hauled off Union Carbide tower A 53-year-old Seadrift environmentalist
climbed a tower at the Union Carbide Corp. plant this morning and chained
herself to the structure, seeking justice for the victims of a 1984
industrial disaster in Bhopal, India. Protesters and supporters of the
Bhopal victims have been staging hunger strikes and other actions around
the world to protest moves by the Indian government to reduce criminal
manslaughter charges against Union Carbide CEO Warren Anderson to misdemeanor
negligence charges.

Fla.
police cars to sport corporate logos A Florida Panhandle town is
getting new police cars for only $1 each, but there's a catch. The cars
will be festooned with corporate sponsorship logos similar to those
on race cars.

Lobsters,
caviar and brandy for MPs at summit on starvation Earth Summit delegates
are gorging on mountains of lobster, oysters and fillet steak at the
Johannesburg conference — aimed at ending famine. As the summit began
yesterday, desperate kids in nearby shanty towns queued for water at
standpipes. Friends of the Earth called the extravagance "deplorable".

August
27, 2002

And,
for those who question whether or not we are living under a TOTAL FASCIST
DICTATORSHIP:Bush
Aides Say Iraq War Needs No Hill VoteLawyers for pResident
Bush have concluded he can launch an attack on Iraq without new approval
from Congress, in part because they say that permission remains in force
from the 1991 resolution giving Bush's father authority to wage war
in the Persian Gulf, according to mis-ministration officials.

US
rift widens over Iraq James Baker, secretary of state under President
Bush from 1989 to 1992, chose the highest-profile platform available,
the op-ed page of yesterday's New York Times, to declare that the White
House should avoid going it alone on Iraq.

Delaware
Compiles Future Suspects List Delaware Police Compiles Database
of List of Likely Law-Breakers; ACLU Opposes Practice [God
only knows what Ashcroft is compiling, but I am sure I am on it, ROFL!]
Police in Delaware are setting up a database that contains a list of
people who officers believe are likely to break the law. Defense attorneys
and the American Civil Liberties Union oppose the database, which lists
names, addresses and photographs of the potential suspects many of whom
have clean slates.

Circle
of suspicion Steven J. Hatfill's unpublished novel describes a biological
attack on Congress... The return address on anthrax letters sent to
Sens. Tom Daschle and Patrick Leahy was "4th Grade, Greendale School."
Greendale is a suburb of Harare, Zimbabwe's capital (the country where
Hatfill studied and "worked")... Bloodhounds that had
sniffed gauze rubbed on the anthrax letters reportedly got excited in
Hatfill's apartment. [Awe, my heart BLEEDS
for Steven J. Hatfill, the-non-Ph.D.-albeit-claims-to-have-one. Hatfill
is the rightwing sicko that likely murdered thousands of black people
in Zimbabwe (then) Rhodesia in the late 1970's, via anthrax. Hatfill
probably disseminated the anthrax last year to DEMOCRATS at the behest
of Rove and the Carlyle group, and is now whining about being AshKKKroft's
"person of interest." Meanwhile, thousands of innocent people -- not
Rove's goons-for-hire -- sit in AshKKKroft's "war on terror" jails.
Most of these people have not even been charged for a crime but are
imprisoned based on their skin color, religious beliefs and/or political
beliefs.]

Hatfill
Files Complaint on FBI Probe News reports have said Hatfill fabricated
claims on his resume when he applied for work with SAIC, including falsely
claiming to have a Ph.D., experience with U.S. Army Special Forces,
and membership in Britain's Royal Society of Medicine. Federal officials
have said the FBI is not ready to clear Hatfill in the attacks that
killed five people and sickened 13 others even though investigators
have no physical evidence linking him to a crime.

The
Fort Bragg Deaths: An Anti-Malarial Drug That Can Trigger Violence?[a la`"Jacob's Ladder"?] On
June 11, a special forces soldier at Fort Bragg, N.C. allegedly shot
his wife and then killed himself. In July, three other soldiers at the
base allegedly killed their wives. One of them also committed suicide
after the death of his spouse. Three of the men had served in Afghanistan.
Is there a link between the ant-malarial drug, Lariam (mefloquine) and
the violence? This is one of the questions that will be asked by an
investigative team that will spend a week at Fort Bragg, which is home
for the 18th Airborne Corps and the Army Special Operations Command.

U.S.
Issues Warning to Europeans in Dispute Over New Court The Bush mis-ministration
has warned European nations that the American role in NATO will change
if the European Union refuses the United States' request for agreements
to keep Americans out of the reach of the new International Criminal
Court.

End
'Global Apartheid' Call Heralds Earth Summit The Earth Summit opens
on Monday in Johannesburg, giving world governments driven by a mix
of idealism and realpolitik just 10 days to agree on ways to haul millions
out of poverty without poisoning the planet. Protesters accuse the United
States and European Union of pushing the interests of globalized big
business at the expense of the very poor.

Britain
blames US for failing world's poor UN says failure at Earth Summit
would fuel global terrorism -- Deep tensions between Britain and the
US have emerged ahead of the Earth Summit in Johannesburg, which remains
shrouded in pessimism ahead of its official start today.

Ecological
decline 'far worse' than official estimates Leaked paper - OECD's
grim warning on climate change -- The real level of world inequality
and environmental degradation may be far worse than official estimates,
according to a leaked document prepared for the world's richest countries
and seen by the Guardian.

Report:
Millions Behind Bars in U.S. One in every 32 adults in the United
States was behind bars or on probation or parole by the end of last
year, according to a government report Sunday that found a record 6.6
million people in the nation's correctional system. [And,
under Ashcroft's police state, the number could SKYROCKET.]

Return
of the ugly American A redneck country singer is tops with the guys
in uniform. No wonder Dubya invited him to the White House -- by John
Sutherland From "everybody hurts" to Bush's "everybody dies [but US]."
The angry American is off his leash, like a junk yard dog. American
idiocy and jingoism, care of Rightwing Radio, Inc..

Protesters'
views blocked One of the largest protests in Stockton history was
largely invisible to its intended target: pResident Bush. Big rig trailers,
buses and other security tactics effectively blocked the view from protest
sites to Bush events Friday at Stockton Memorial Civic Auditorium and
A.G. Spanos Jet Center, sparking charges of unconstitutional
interference with protesters' freedom of speech.

Why
a Texas Democrat has the GOP Worried If Republicans have one sure
thing, it ought to be Texas. In Bush country they hold all 27 statewide
offices. It has been nearly 30 years since a Democrat has won an open
Senate seat. When three-term Senator Phil Gramm announced his retirement
last year, who thought Republicans didn't have a lock on his replacement?

Poll:
Missouri Senate Race Tight A new poll shows Democratic incumbent
Sen. Jean Carnahan in a statistical dead heat with Republican challenger
Jim Talent. With control of the Senate at stake, Talent likely will
get more "help" [plus a few Rove-esque
dirty tricks and vote-fraud insurance tossed in for good measure!]
from the White House in the final weeks, with pResident Bush already
raising more than $1 million for Talent in just two visits to the state.

Enron
chief's assets frozen but $4m house work goes on A magistrate has
signed orders freezing a number of brokerage and bank accounts controlled
by Andrew Fastow, former chief financial officer of Enron, and members
of his family. The orders were signed by a Houston magistrate last week
after family members tried to move millions from one account to another.

The
Greedy Bunch: You Bought. They Sold. All over corporate America,
top execs were cashing in stock even as their companies were tanking.
Who was left holding the bag? You. -- by Mark Gimein "The not-so-secret
dirty secret of the crash is that even as investors were losing 70%,
90%, even in some cases all of their holdings, top officials of many
of the companies that have crashed the hardest were getting immensely,
extraordinarily, obscenely wealthy... When the bubble burst, their shareholders
were left holding the bag. But, hey, they had theirs."

US
Needs Allies to Hit Iraq-Former Secretary Baker Former Secretary
of State James Baker said on Sunday the political and economic cost
of ousting Iraqi President Saddam Hussein could be great if the United
States acts alone and urged the Bush mis-ministration to first seek
to build a wide international coalition.

Gen.
Zinni Says War With Iraq Is Unwise One of pResident Bush's top Middle
East trouble- shooters warned Friday against war with Iraq, saying it
would stretch U.S. forces too thin and make unwanted enemies in the
volatile region.

Treadmills
of His Mind -- by Maureen Dowd "The president [sic] won't speak
clearly, and the vice president [sic] won't speak to anybody whose check
to the Republican National Committee hasn't cleared. Of course, they
might not want to speak too clearly since many of their true positions
on corporate America (go easy), the environment (pillage) and health
care (help drug companies) don't comport with what many Americans say
they want."

An
Alternate Universe -- by Maureen Farrell "Sometime between
last fall and Christmas, scientists discovered an alternative universe.
This wasn't confirmed nor publicized, mind you, but they're bound to
announce it soon. Unless, of course, like Dick Cheney's energy task
force meetings or President [sic] Bush's SEC files, it's being kept
secret as matter of national security."

Officials
Ask Florida Residents to Watch Waterways The U.S. Coast Guard asked
marina workers and private boaters on Friday to monitor South Florida's
waterways, tracking suspicious activity and
reporting to law enforcement in the name of homeland defense.

Fla.
Attorney: Agency Broke Law Florida's child welfare agency broke
the law when it failed to remove a 4-year-old boy from an abusive home
before he was beaten to death, a state attorney said.

Stun
grenades fired to break up march Canadian activist Maude Barlow
helped lead 600 protesters in an anti-Earth Summit march in Johannesburg
Saturday evening that was broken up by police firing stun grenades.
Police blocked the march because they said it was illegal. A journalist
heading a camera-crew was arrested for obstructing police.

Rubber
Bullets Don't Get Rubber Stamp Some types of rubber bullets used
by police to restrain unruly protesters kill and maim too often to be
considered a safe method of crowd control, new research concludes.

Zambia
rejects U.N. appeal to accept biotech food The Zambian government
rejected Saturday a United Nations appeal to lift a ban on the distribution
of genetically modified food, saying it would be able to procure enough
other grain to feed its starving people.

Bush's
Campaign Tour Starts Rough It was a most awkward campaign fundraising
tour: pResident Bush first ignored the would-be Republican governor
he came to help, and then embraced Bill Simon — corporate fraud verdict
and all — as a "proven businessman."

Bush
Backs Embattled Calif. Candidate pResident Bush began two days of
fund raising on Friday for Republican gubernatorial candidate Bill Simon
Jr., whose campaign has been hit by a string of problems including an
$80 million fine against his family's business.

Bush
lauds candidate's business sense despite firm's conviction pResident
Bush began a two-day California crisscross in search of cash for GOP
gubernatorial candidate Bill Simon's ailing campaign by complimenting
the candidate's business experience, unswayed by questions about how
a fraud verdict against Simon's investment firm squares with Bush's
tough talk on corporate crooks.

Democrats
Aim at Corporate Greed Citizens believe corporate greed is influencing
the high cost of prescription drugs and cutting into people's retirement
savings, the Democratic candidate for the Senate from Maine said Saturday
in her party's radio address.

Senate
Democrats See Deeper Deficit Senate Democrats projected deeper and
longer-lasting federal budget deficits Thursday over this decade than
those estimated by the White House, which foresees a relatively quick
return to surpluses.

Feds
Freeze Millions Held By Former Enron Official A federal judge in
Houston has frozen millions of dollars in assets controlled by Andrew
S. Fastow and his family, sources said yesterday, in the latest sign
that prosecutors are closing in on Enron Corp.'s former chief financial
officer.

The
Outrage Constraint -- by Paul Krugman "Thanks to the growing
skill of companies at camouflage, and also to a steady erosion of old
inhibitions against apparent excess, the average pay of C.E.O.'s at
major companies has skyrocketed. It was 'only' 40 times that of an average
worker a generation ago; it's 500 times as much today."

Guard
Battalion called to service The Iowa Army National Guard's 1st Battalion,
194th Field Artillery, will be ordered to federal active duty, the Department
of Defense and the National Guard Bureau in Washington, D.C., have announced.
The battalion, headquartered in Fort Dodge, will
deploy to locations within the United States for homeland security missions
as part of Operation Noble Eagle II [?!?]. Duty locations
are not being announced.

Probe
of Hill Leaks On 9/11 Is Intensified The FBI has intensified its
probe of a classified intelligence leak, asking 17 senators to turn
over phone records, appointment calendars and schedules that would reveal
their possible contact with reporters.

F.B.I.
Is Said to Ask Senators for Files in Hunt for Leaks The F.B.I. has
asked all 17 senators on the joint Senate-House intelligence committee
to turn over appointment books, schedules, phone records and electronic
calendars in an effort to determine if they may have spoken with journalists
about classified intelligence information, Congressional officials said.

Ashcroft
Fights Secret Court's Ruling The Justice Department argued in a
legal brief made public yesterday that a court that authorizes foreign
intelligence surveillance in the United States has failed to recognize
the expanded authority [full-blown police state implementation] given
criminal investigators under the new USA Patriot Act.

George
W. Bush Hates America Political Prisoners and the Post-9/11 Police
State -- by Ted Rall "There are few more sickening sights than
George W. Bush wearing a lapel pin bearing an image of the American
flag. Bush and his creepy henchmen can wrap themselves in nationalistic
symbolism all they want, but these right-wing thugs aren't patriots.
They may pledge allegiance to the flag, but they despise the republic
for which it stands."

Mondo
Cane -- by John Chuckman "Just how does anyone think those
clean-cut, pressed-shirt boys at the Pentagon managed to build a hellish
arsenal of poison gases, putrid chemicals, engineered disease germs
and viruses, plus nuclear and thermonuclear weapons? In fact, the number
of Americans killed by air and groundwater contamination alone from
nuclear-weapons processing facilities likely equals the toll for a small
war. Ah, but that's our side, the good guys. What counts is that the
bad guys, whoever they are on that video, killed three dogs."

Behind
the official debate, US builds up forces for attack on Iraq While
a highly publicized debate continues in the pages of the American press
on the subject of when and how—rather than whether—to launch a war with
Iraq, the US military is pushing ahead with the logistical and technical
preparations for the invasion and occupation of the Middle East country.

Public
support slips for ousting Saddam A thin majority of Americans still
support sending ground troops to Iraq to oust Saddam Hussein, but the
size of that majority has dwindled to pre-Sept. 11 levels, a Gallup
Poll finds.

Condemned
to beating about the Bush US snub: Fine words and pious hopes hide
chances of action Colin Powell will lead the US delegation to the earth
summit, but the absent figure of George Bush will cast a long dark shadow
over the proceedings. By deciding not to attend, Mr Bush has already
snubbed the UN organisers. They moved the date of the summit forward
to end on September 4 to avoid September 11, just so he could be there.
The pResident also ignored the pleas of Tony Blair and other leaders.

Forest
Service 'Misplaced' $215M The U.S. Forest Service, now battling
one of the worst fire seasons in history, "misplaced" about $215 million
intended for wildfire management because of an accounting error, a watchdog
group contends.

A
Confused Inquiry -- by Bob Herbert "Under pressure, and after
a great deal of confusion among its own officials, the U.S. Justice
Department has said it will continue its criminal investigation into
a drug sting gone haywire in the Texas panhandle town of Tulia."

Access
to abortion services needed -- by Tamara Irminger "Critics
are quick to point out that Planned Parenthood is the largest abortion
provider nationwide. What they fail to mention is that Planned Parenthood
does far more than any other organization - including Right to Life
- to prevent abortion."

Police
Pepper Spray Bush Protesters Riot police fired pepper spray at hundreds
of protesters and struck some with batons Thursday near a hotel where
pResident Bush attended a fund-raiser. Earlier in the day, several hundred
demonstrators marched toward the Hilton Hotel after Bush's arrival there.
Protesting Bush's foreign policy, they chanted "Drop
Bush, Not Bombs."

Activists
in Portland protest Bush policies Several hundred hooting and screaming
protesters marched in downtown Portland on Thursday as pResident Bush
arrived to raise money for the re-election campaign of U.S. Sen. Gordon
Smith. Riot police massed near the Hilton Hotel after Bush's arrival
there.

Japan's
Foreign Minister Tanaka Makes Inappropriate Private Remark About Bush
A day before Foreign Minister Makiko Tanaka would be meeting US Secretary
of State Collin Powell, Ms. Tanaka visited German Town High School in
Philadelphia where she studied for two years when she was a high school
student... Foreign Minister Makiko reportedly said, "I will definitely
oppose the new missile defense plan proposed by President [sic] Bush.
It is beyond my imagination that we need it." During the conversation
with her old classmates at the reception in German Town High School,
The Weekly Post learned that Ms. Tanaka made a remark about George Bush,
"He is totally an asshole" in English.

CA
finds voter registration cards altered in Merced County by Republicans
Though voter registration cards were altered before the March primary
in Merced County, the Secretary of State's office says it doesn't have
enough evidence to prosecute. [Now that's
a big surprise!!] Nineteen Democrats filed complaints with
the office after discovering during the primary that they were registered
as Republicans. They registered to vote with a person working for a
firm hired by the Republican Party.

Pataki
Camp Accused of Bogus Voter Registration Gov. George Pataki's re-election
campaign faced an embarrassment yesterday when elections workers said
thousands of Independence Party voter registrations submitted by Pataki's
camp may be fraudulent. Bearing phony addresses
and ages, forged signatures, and names like Manuel Noriega
and Romeo Shagwell, the registrations were collected by workers paid
bounties for each new voter by the Pataki campaign.

Ex-Enron
Official Admits Payments to Finance Chief A former Enron finance
executive told a federal judge here today that he had paid large kickbacks
to the company's former chief financial officer, Andrew S. Fastow, out
of money he received for managing a partnership that was used to help
the company hide debt and increase profits.

Capital
gains, capital losses Why does Bush want to bail out wealthy investors?
-- by William Saletan "Administration officials and members of
Congress are reportedly considering both proposals: cutting taxes on
capital gains, and increasing the tax deduction for investment losses.
The combination is incoherent. If the government has no business taking
your money, it has no business bailing you out."

Special
Court Rejects Ashcroft Rules A special court that oversees sensitive
law enforcement surveillance forced Attorney General John Ashcroft to
change his guidelines for FBI terrorism searches and wiretaps, according
to documents released Thursday.

Allies
and Atrocities (The Washington Post) "The report tells of prisoners
being hogtied and packed into metal containers to suffocate; of prisoners
piteously crying out for water and air; of truck drivers being punished
by Northern Alliance soldiers if they tried to respond to those pleas.
It asks whether any American officers were in the vicinity while the
operation may have been taking place... The Northern Alliance was America's
ally, operating hand in glove with U.S. forces and triumphing only because
of U.S. support. Yet the United States refuses to accept any responsibility
for even asking the right questions."

Seeking
The Truth In Afghan Graves -- by Leonard S. Rubenstein "For
months, evidence has accumulated that many of the Taliban fighters who
surrendered after the fall of Mazar-e Sharif and Kunduz last November
were killed by Northern Alliance forces under the control of Gen. Abdurrashid
Dostum... Only the United States is in a position to ensure the security
essential to allowing an investigation to go forward. On moral grounds,
an especially compelling reason exists for U.S. action: The perpetrator
of the alleged war crime is America's military ally."

Former
Secretary of State Wary of Iraq Attack Former Secretary of State
Lawrence Eagleburger, part of a Republican faction with reservations
about attacking Iraq, said on Thursday he was not convinced that the
time was right for military action.

Top
US general attacks hawks' strategy on Iraq One of America's most
senior generals has condemned as "foolish" plans backed by leading Washington
hawks to topple Saddam Hussein by using special forces in a repetition
of the tactics that succeeded in Afghanistan. Gen James L Jones, the
four-star commander of the Marine Corps who will be taking over as Nato's
supreme allied commander, was clearly addressing high-ranking conservatives
in and around the Pentagon.

Scowcroft
sticks to his guns Echoing advice from European and Arab allies,
Brent Scowcroft, the retired army general who served as George Bush
Sr's national security adviser, said that Washington should work with
the United Nations to get arms inspectors into Iraq before taking action
because Saddam's refusal to comply would at least give Washington a
"casus belli that we don't really have right now".

Kucinich
focuses on why not to attack Rep. Dennis Kucinich ratcheted up his
effort to play a leading anti-war role in Congress yesterday, hosting
a Capitol Hill briefing designed to highlight opposition to U.S. military
action against Iraq.

Bush
snubs doves and says Saddam must go pResident Bush has reaffirmed
his determination to oust President Saddam Hussein. He said the Iraqi
leader was a threat and that his removal was "in the interest of
the world".

What
the New York Times left out -- by William Blum "Page one of
the New York Times Sunday, August 18, picked up extensively by the international
media, featured a story on Iraq: 'Officers Say U.S. Aided Iraq in War
Despite Use of Gas,' shouted the headline... Strangely, the Times story
leaves out the most significant part - the furnishing of chemical and
biological materials by the United States to Iraq which markedly enhanced
Iraq's CBW [chemical and biological weapons] capability."

Fox
News Channel takes out ad condemning CNN for buying al-Qaida videotapes[Double barf alert! Tweedle Dumb and Tweedle
Dumber battle it out for who can disseminate the most outrageous coup-supporting
fabrications!! Wag the gassed dog!] Escalating an already
keen cable news competition, Fox News Channel took out a newspaper ad
on Thursday criticizing CNN for changing its story on paying for al-Qaida
videotape.

Black
Farmers March Outside Agriculture Dept. About 150 black farmers
marched outside the Department of Agriculture this morning to protest
foreclosures on black-owned farms and delays in payments from a class
action discrimination suit.

Black
Farmers to Rally at USDA Philip Haynie recalls walking into the
agricultural loan office in Heathsville, Va., in the fall of 1998, seeking
a loan that would enable him to keep farming. He was greeted by an account
executive holding a handgun.

AAPS
Tells Gov. Bush: Veto Forced Drugging Bill Florida Bill Threatens
Civil Liberties, Gives Unprecedented Power to Unelected Officials --
The Association of American Physicians and Surgeons (AAPS) today urged
Gov. Bush to veto SB 1262, a bill that gives
the State Public Health Officer powers to declare a public health emergency
and to order forced drugging and treatment under the guise of responding
to terrorism.

Maryland
Plans to Truck in Water Officials in Maryland's second-largest city,
left with little more than a month's supply of water, are making plans
to truck in as much as 4 million gallons of water a day.

How
the West Was Burned: Wildfires in Western Forests Statement by Robert
Perks - Craig Noble of The Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC)
"Unfortunately, the administration is exploiting the fear of fires
to push through its pro-logging agenda... In their latest gambit, the
pro-logging forces, including U.S. senators and governors from Western
states, are seeking to exempt mechanical thinning projects from environmental
laws and judicial review."

Read
at Your Own Risk: Open Letter to America from a Canadian -- by W.R.
McDougall "And so it has come to this. Your once-great nation has
fallen into madness, an affliction of mass denial that brings shivers
up the spines of millions outside your borders. Yours is a sick nation.
But most of you carry on as though nothing at all is the matter.."

Kucinich
Soars at Home, Makes Waves in Washington At the end of the month
Ohio Rep. Dennis Kucinich is headed to Johannesburg, South Africa, for
a conference on sustainable development that pResident Bush refuses
to attend. The ultra-popular congressman walked off from his 2000 general
election with 75 percent of the vote after winning 93 percent in the
primary. He ran unopposed in this year's primary.

SEC
Charges a Former High-Ranking Enron Official With Fraud Defendant
Permanently Barred From Serving as Officer or Director of Public Company;
to Disgorge and Forfeit Approximately $12 Million (SEC press release)
The Securities and Exchange Commission announced today that it had charged
Michael J. Kopper, a former high-ranking Enron official, with violating
the antifraud provisions of the federal securities laws.

ACLU
demands DoJ unveil surveillance data The American Civil Liberties
Union and two other groups filed an expedited Freedom of Information
Act request Wednesday demanding that the U.S. Department of Justice
release data about its domestic surveillance activities.

Sensenbrenner
wants answers on Patriot Act He threatens to subpoena Ashcroft to
get details on antiterror measure -- U.S. Rep. F. James Sensenbrenner
said Monday he'll play hardball with Attorney General John Ashcroft
over a congressional demand for detailed information about the Patriot
Act. Sensenbrenner (R-Wis.) said he would "start blowing a fuse" unless
Ashcroft's Justice Department gives answers by Labor Day week to 50
written questions about the act raised by the House Judiciary Committee
in June.

University
Seeks to Fire Scholar for Reputed Link to Terrorism[Barf
alert!] The University of South Florida asked a court today
if it could fire a tenured Palestinian professor who has been accused
of having terrorist ties [Holy McCarthyism,
Batman!!] The professor, Sami Al-Arian, has lived in this
country since 1975, has never been charged with a crime and denies any
connection to terrorists.

US
admits plan to bring down Mugabe The United States government has
said it wants to see President Robert Mugabe removed from power and
that it is working with the Zimbabwean opposition to bring about a change
of administration. As scores of white farmers went into hiding to escape
a round-up by Zimbabwean police, a senior Bush mis-ministration official
called Mr Mugabe's rule "illegitimate and irrational" and said that
his re-election as president in March was won through fraud. [Does
the Bush regime not see the irony in calling another country's presidential
rule "illegitimate and irrational" and his "election as president...won
through fraud?" My God! How dare they, the POT ITSELF, call the kettle
black! Bush's rule is nothing if not "illegitimate and irrational"--based
on a illegitimate seizure of power, extended by force, violence, idiocy
and irrational unilateralism, devastating to the nation and the world
at large. His "election" [sic] was surely "won [sic] through fraud!"
This is another way of trying to legitimize himself, acting as if others
have no right to rule. Bush is the biggest FRAUD in US history!]

UN:
No inquiry into Afghan mass graves The United Nations said Wednesday
that Afghanistan's new Human Rights Commission -- not the U.N. itself
-- would investigate alleged mass grave sites, despite an offer from
the government in Kabul to cooperate with an international inquiry.

Afghan
govt. condemns mass killing Afghanistan's transitional government
Wednesday condemned the reported killing of up to 1,000 al Qaida and
Taliban prisoners in the custody of U.S.-backed Northern Alliance troops
last year and pledged to cooperate in full with human rights organizations
and other investigating bodies.

Bush
Says World Needs Saddam Ousted pResident Bush, confronting skittish
allies overseas and naysayers at home, asserted Wednesday that ousting
Iraq's Saddam Hussein "is in the interests of the world" but indicated
the United States is in no hurry. [Given the
economic, social, political, and environmental ramifications of the
Bush coup d'etat, it's safe to say that it "is in the interests
of the world" that George Bush is ousted. And, we ARE in a hurry.]

Attack
Saddam now and let history judge, says Rumsfeld America cannot afford
to wait for proof that Saddam Hussein is building weapons of mass destruction,
the US defence secretary, [and rightwing nutcase] Donald Rumsfeld, has
declared. Mr Rumsfeld, a leading advocate of military action against
Baghdad, flatly rejected calls from Washington, Europe and the Arab
world for hard evidence of Iraqi ill-doing before any attack.

Gen.
Franks Says to Work on Iraq Plans The head of the U.S. Central Command
in Afghanistan, Army Gen. Tommy Franks, was asked on Wednesday about
a possible military strike on Iraq. Gen. Franks said he was drawing
up plans to give pResident Bush "credible options."

U.S.
plans PR campaign for war on Iraq U.S. officials, faced with an
internal survey showing widespread foreign skepticism about their motives,
are planning a public relations offensive to build international support
among foreign opinion leaders for a war against Iraq.

Wag
the Gassed Dog Comments from readers: "Just a short note to
tell you that any common average Muslim knows that Islam expressly forbids
mistreatment of animals..." "What about the chem weapons that
the US of A has in their stockpile...Weren't there tests conducted during
development of the weapons. Maybe thot [sic] video actually comes from
the Pentagon's shelf itself...I wonder.."

November
Surprise? -- by James Ridgeway "The word among wags in Washington
is that George W. Bush will invade Iraq right after the fall congressional
elections, giving himself time to get the war out of the way before
his own presidential campaign swings into gear. An attack before November
would be difficult because the desert would be too hot for troops to
maneuver with all their biochemical gear, or so the argument goes."

US
knew about Argentina rights abuses The US government knew of tens
of thousands of human rights abuses committed during Argentina's last
military dictatorship, even as it continued to co-operate with the regime,
according to documents released on Tuesday.

U.S.
Releases 1980's Files on Repression in Argentina The material documents
some of the systematic kidnapping, torture and killings of leftists
by the military dictatorship that ruled Argentina from 1976 until 1983
— a period known as the "dirty war." The Bush mis-ministration delayed
releasing the documents twice: first because of the Sept. 11 attacks
[?!?] and then earlier this year
when Argentina was thrown into political chaos by a severe economic
downturn.

Bush
Will Seek to Ease Laws on Logging pResident Bush will ask Congress
to relax environmental laws so the timber industry can step up logging
across millions of acres of national forest land increasingly prone
to wildfires, senior mis-ministration officials said today.

Georgia
Rep. [and hero] McKinney Defeated Five-term Rep. Cynthia McKinney,
who had the courage to criticize the Bush regime after Sept. 11, was
ousted in Georgia's primary Tuesday by a political unknown [who was
heavily supported and funded by Republicans.] [McKinney told the
truth about this mis-ministration, and they paid big bucks to be rid
of her. She never accepted the s-election of Bush. She made them squirm
regarding 9-11. She worked to expose the coup and counter the occupation.
And for that, she attracted a lot of Repugnican money and scorn. One
of our very best Democrats has been thrown out in a state that allows
Repugs to vote in Democratic primaries. When, oh when, will we ever
have a fair election again?]

Rep.
Barr, an Ardent Clinton Foe, Loses Seat in Primary Representative
John Linder cruised to an easy victory yesterday in the Republican primary
in Georgia's Seventh Congressional District. Mr. Linder, a five-term
House member defeated Representative Bob Barr, a well-known and vocal
conservative who was a leader four years ago in the impeachment of President
Bill Clinton.

Sharon
Is to Join Jeb Bush at Rally for Israel in Florida Ariel Sharon,
the Israeli prime minister, will appear in South Florida with Gov. Jeb
Bush on Sept. 9 — the day before Mr. Bush's would-be challengers meet
in the Democratic primary — at a pro-Israel rally where international
affairs will share a stage with domestic political concerns.

Ex-Enron
Official Will Plead Guilty Former Enron Corp. executive Michael
J. Kopper will plead guilty to financial wrongdoing as early as today
and has agreed to surrender $12 million in the first criminal case against
a company official, sources close to the investigation said yesterday.

WorldCom
Execs Give to Political Group WorldCom Inc.'s top executives contributed
to the company's political action committee, new records showed on Monday.
Federal Election Commission records show the last recorded political
donations by Max Bobbitt, who heads the company's audit committee, was
$1,000 to Rep. Charles Pickering, a Mississippi Republican, in April
and a handful of others back in 1999 and 1998, exclusively to Republicans.

Budget
Deficit Hits $29.16B in July The government ran up a budget deficit
of $29.16 billion in July, increasing the federal red ink for the current
fiscal year to $147.2 billion, the Treasury Department reported Tuesday.

Ashcroft
Assailed On Policy Review Lawmakers Say Oversight Is Blocked --
Lawmakers on the House and Senate judiciary committees complain that
Attorney General John D. Ashcroft is blocking attempts to review Justice
Department counterterrorism policies, setting the stage for another
round of clashes between the Bush mis-ministration and Congress.

Call
for release of 'low-level' Guantanamo inmates Pakistan has demanded
the release of 58 of its citizens from Guantanamo Bay, officials said
yesterday, amid a growing number of reports that none of the 598 inmates
being held without charge at the US Caribbean base are al-Qaida leaders.
Washington has refused to identify the detainees, arguing that it does
not want al-Qaida to know what the US has learnt about the group's operations,
but leaks have suggested that the prisoners are minnows and al-Qaida's
big fish remain at large.

Bin
Laden: from 'Evil One' to Unmentionable One pResident Bush used
to call him "the evil one" but in recent months Osama bin Laden has
become the unmentionable one, replaced by Iraqi President Saddam Hussein
as the chief enemy of the United States.

Bombing
for Poll Numbers? -- by Randolph T. Holhut "The economy is
faltering, the stock market has tanked, and President [sic] Bush's lame
attempt at portraying himself as the champion of corporate responsibility
has failed. Sounds like a good time to invade Iraq. Yes, it's a cynical
attitude to have. But we're dealing with cynical people in charge of
our country and if bombing Iraq would give President [sic] Bush a bump
up in the opinion polls, they'd do it a minute - especially with the
mid-term elections coming up in November."

Panhandle
child neglect coverup? (St. Petersburg Times) "...would DCF
really go so far as to mislabel the cause of a child's death in order
to avoid having to answer for failures in its investigation? Floridians
deserve an answer in a disturbing case from the Panhandle -- and some
assurance that what looks and smells like a coverup isn't."

Regier
in for tough time by Senate The man picked by Gov. Jeb Bush to head
Florida's child welfare agency will face a thorough grilling by a skeptical
Senate as questions persist about his evangelical Christian beliefs,
the incoming Senate president said Monday.

It's
Not the Heat; It's the Consistency Eight-Day String of 95-Degree
Days Ties Record -- A record-tying string of heat-charged days of 95
degrees or higher, which ended Monday, has earned August 2002 a place
in the record books. Already this summer, temperatures in the Washington
area have hit the 90-degree mark 49 times. The average for 90-degree
days in a single year is 37. [Hello, Kyoto?]

Sens.
Clinton and Schumer: No Raises For Us Senators Hillary Rodham Clinton
and Chuck Schumer intend to vote against the $5,000 congressional pay
hike, giving a big boost to accelerating efforts to block it, The Post
has learned.

U.S.
Ignored Appraisers In Land Deal With Utah BLM Experts Called Swap
A $100 Million Giveaway -- The Bush mis-ministration recently agreed
to a massive land swap with Utah even though the federal government's
own experts had warned that the deal amounted to a $100
million giveaway by U.S. taxpayers, agency documents show.

The
Real Thing -- by Paul Krugman "Mr. Bush is a master of photo-op
populism; his handlers seek out opportunities to show him mingling with
blue-collar workers. But the reality is that this administration loves
'em while the TV crews are around, then leaves 'em when it comes to
actual policy. And that reality is becoming ever harder to conceal."

U.S.
Open to Investigation of Afghan Grave Site The United States said
on Monday it was pressing the Afghan government to investigate reports
that hundreds of Taliban prisoners died in the north of the country
after surrendering last November.

Afghan
opium crop back to record levels The new Afghan government has largely
failed [not to the Carlyle Group/Bush Empire] in its effort to eradicate
the opium poppy crop in Afghanistan, which in recent years became the
world’s biggest producer of the raw material for heroin, United Nations
crop experts reported yesterday.

U.S.
Plans to Evacuate Workers in Case of Attack The Bush mis-ministration
has approved plans aimed at speeding the evacuation of federal workers
in the nation's capital in the event of an attack using weapons of mass
destruction, officials said on Saturday.

U.S.
considered hitting site in Iraq U.S. officials Monday told CNN the
Bush administration in recent weeks considered a covert CIA and military
attack [pResident Moron can now be informed that it apparently is no
longer covert] on a "suspected al Qaeda chemical weapons test facility"
in northern Iraq -- an area not controlled by Iraqi President Saddam
Hussein.

U.S.
Plans to Ignore New Iraqi Offer on Inspectors The United States,
which holds this month's U.N. Security Council presidency, said on Monday
the 15-member body had no plans to discuss the latest Iraqi offer to
resume discussions with the United Nations on weapons inspections.

U.S.
Companies Slash Imports Of Iraqi Oil U.S. oil companies have dramatically
slashed imports of Iraqi oil over the past five months, contributing
to a steep decline in Baghdad's oil exports and cutting into President
Saddam Hussein's ability to siphon money from the U.N.-supervised oil-for-food
program, according to U.S. and U.N. officials.

Warning
Shots on Iraq (The New York Times) "[Brent] Scowcroft's concerns
about attacking Iraq, aired yesterday in an op-ed article in The Wall
Street Journal, were the equivalent of a cannon shot across the White
House lawn. The piece should erase any doubt about the need for a national
debate on Iraq. Mr. Scowcroft is the third prominent Republican in recent
days to question the wisdom of a campaign against Iraq.

Something
fishy in the Hatfill case? -- by Mona Charen "Dr. Steven Hatfill
may or may not be the killer who sent anthrax through the mail last
year. But something smells about the way the FBI is handling this matter...If
the FBI has screwed this up, heads should roll, starting with Director
Robert Mueller's."

Privacy
fear over plan to store email Records of personal communications,
including all emails and telephone calls, will be stored for at least
a year under a proposal to be decided by EU governments next month.
Under the plan, all telecommunications firms, including mobile phone
operators and internet service providers, will have to keep the numbers
and addresses of calls and emails sent and received by EU citizens.

Scores
sent home from GM Defence plant About 170 employees of the General
Motors Defence plant in London, Ont., were sent home Monday for holding
citizenship outside of Canada and the United States. The workers were
apparently caught by a new federal regulation, tied to American laws
that require workers making military material to be registered for security
purposes.

Nuke
Waste May Be Inviting Target On the shore of one of the country's
most bountiful waterways, the Chesapeake Bay, two reactors have produced
electricity for nearly a quarter century — and accumulated 950 tons
of radioactive waste. Some security experts worry that at Calvert Cliffs
on the Chesapeake and other nuclear power plants, the most vulnerable
terrorist target may not be the reactors, but the waste they produce.

Deal
Forbids Cable Protest Three shellfish companies have already accepted
$5 million and could receive as much as $21.5 million, in return for
backing an electric cable beneath Long Island Sound, the Connecticut
Post reported Sunday.

Contract
Expressly Forbids Fishermen From Opposing High Voltage Power Lines In
Any Way The contract, signed in January, 2001 between TransEnergieUS
and the Connecticut shellfish companies, also bars the fishermen from
providing details on the cable deal. Sen. George L. Gunther, R-Stratford,
and Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal have called the
cable a potential threat to the environment and ship traffic in the
busy port of New Haven.

A
survivor's victory: Salvadoran torturers are found guilty A century
seemed to pass before the jury foreman read the verdict, Carlos Mauricio
said. For two decades, he had been waiting for his day in court; waiting
to point at the general who had ordered his kidnapping and torture in
El Salvador.

Bush
Advisers Back Investor Tax Breaks White House officials on Sunday
advocated a new round of tax breaks for investors in order to give the
stock market a boost[His and Cheney's
resignation would be the ultimate boost to the stock market and
the entire world population.] and speed the pace of U.S. growth in the
run-up to the November congressional elections.

Rights
monitors to keep watch at state polls Voters and workers won't be
the only people at Florida's polls during the Sept. 10 primary election,
the first test of the state's new election system. A handful of civil
rights monitors and Department of Justice officials plan to be watchdogs
in some Florida precincts, recording any problems and intervening if
necessary on behalf of people who are denied the right to vote.

"Death
to the Prince of Darkness!" Democrats Declare in Challenge to Governor
"Death to the prince of darkness!" the invocation speaker publicly declared
at the state's recent Democratic Convention. "In fact, I know things
about him that I don't choose to bring out in public today, that I have
observed with my own eyes. He is a snake!" the speaker said of Conn.
Gov. John G. Rowland. [John Rowland's police report on him trying
to push his ex-wife down a flight of stairs while she was grabbing onto
the railing was sealed by the Waterbury, CT police department years
ago. Waterbury, CT is home to convicted child-rapist GOPig Mayor Philip
Giordano,Federal
Child Sex Charges Against Republican Mayornow in jail. Democrats in the state are well-aware of Bush
pal Rowland's profile. Let's explore fully those GOP family values!!]

Golisano
in Running-Mate Flap (NY) Rochester businessman Thomas Golisano's
efforts to challenge Gov. George Pataki's re-election campaign ran into
complications Friday when Golisano's running mate for the Conservative
Party line testified in an Albany courtroom that he had moved to Connecticut.

Report
Says U.N. Urged Probe of Taliban Deaths A confidential U.N. memorandum
found evidence to justify a "full-fledged criminal investigation" into
the deaths in Afghanistan of hundreds of Taliban prisoners held by the
U.S.-backed Northern Alliance, Newsweek reported today.

The
Death Convoy of Afghanistan Witness reports and the probing of a
mass grave point to war crimes. Afghan Allies killed hundreds of surrendering
Taliban prisoners en route to jail from Konduz to Sheberghan by transporting
the prisoners in sealed cargo containers and leaving them to asphyxiate.

CNN
documentary on Mazar-i-Sharif prison revolt: film footage documents
US war crimes “House of War: The Uprising at Marzar-e-Sharif,” broadcast
August 3 on CNN, documents the events at the Qala-i-Janghi prison fortress
in northern Afghanistan last November. Broadcasting footage shot by
German, American and other film crews, much of which has never been
seen by a US audience, the program records events that, by their conclusion,
would leave at least 400 captured Taliban soldiers dead.

Emails
Attack Bush Policy Media Accused Of Negligence -- Since Tuesday,
editors, reporters, TV hosts and producers across the country have been
deluged with email messages of praise for MSNBC's Phil Donahue, whose
prime-time program has recently given voice to those who suggest the
Bush mis-ministration has mishandled the situation in Afghanistan.

Debate
on War Seen as Diversion From Economy Iraq is emerging as the wild-card
issue of the 2002 election, with Democrats watching a growing debate
over whether the United States should launch a war to oust President
Saddam Hussein, which could shift attention from the economic issues.

General
tells Bush: Don't go it alone Norman Schwarzkopf, the US general
who commanded allied forces during the Gulf War, joined a growing number
of senior US military and political figures yesterday who are opposed
to a unilateral invasion of Iraq and said pResident Bush “should not
go it alone”.

Anthrax
killer 'is US defence insider'An
FBI forensic linguistics expert believes the US anthrax attacks were
carried out by a senior scientist from within America's biological-defence
community.[At
Bush/Cheney/Rumsfeld/Rove's behest?]

Come
Fly With Me? A Saudi Flying Instructor Who Died Mysteriously On
May 8 Had The Same Name as Two 9/11 Hijackers Who Lived At The Same
U.S. Naval Air Base -- Amid reports in the days after the September
11 attacks that two of the hijackers, Saeed Alghamdi and Ahmed Alghamdi
received flight training at Florida’s Pensacola Naval Air Station, a
new dot has been connected which may shed more light on past revelations
that 9/11 terrorists learned to fly at secure United States military
bases.

Army's
malaria drug linked to three Fort Bragg killings Friends of the
three Fort Bragg soldiers suspected of killing their wives this summer
say the men exhibited unusual anger and incoherence after returning
from Afghanistan where they were given an anti-malaria drug associated
with aggression and mental problems.

Jesse
Jackson blasts choice for DCF head The Rev. Jesse Jackson denounced
Gov. Jeb Bush's choice of Jerry Regier to head Florida's child welfare
agency Saturday, expressing a ''sense of national outrage'' over the
nomination.

DCF
chief's record at agency in Okla. put under spotlight From 1997,
when Jerry Regier was named Oklahoma's HHS secretary, until 1999, the
most recent date for which information is available, Oklahoma's state
ranking declined from 38th to 40th. At the beginning of the 1990s, Oklahoma
was ranked as high as 37.

Onward,
Christian soldier --by Jim Defede [satire re: Jerry Regier's new
position] "... Jeepers, maybe this department is going to be easier
to clean up than I thought. Now all I have to do is change the name
to Department of Christian Families and my work is done.''

Mayor's
Bill Is Last Draw For Artists Mayor Michael Bloomberg has enraged
artists and reignited what seems to be a never-ending feud between the
city and street vendors. Bloomberg has proposed legislation that would
prohibit the sale of art, books, newspapers and any other form of reading
material on city sidewalks without a permit or license.

Times
Will Begin Reporting Gay Couples' Ceremonies Starting next month,
the Sunday Styles section of The New York Times will publish reports
of same-sex commitment ceremonies and of some types of formal registration
of gay and lesbian partnerships, the newspaper announced yesterday.
On occasion, the Vows column will be devoted to a same-sex couple.

Looking
for Cheney? He's Looking to 2004 Dick Cheney seemed eager to quash
one of the few remaining sports in Washington when he declared in answer
to a question recently that oh, yes, by the way, he was interested,
after all, in staying on as vice pResident.

Did
he jump or was he pushed? -- by Jon Ronson "I am writing this
from Frederick, Maryland. I've just been filming, for Channel 4, a press
conference in which the son of a CIA officer who died in suspicious
circumstances presented his evidence that vice-president
[sic] Dick Cheney and defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld were,
in 1975, when part of the Gerald Ford administration, involved in a
cover-up of the events surrounding his father's death."

Halliburton
Spinoff Saddled With Asbestos LiabilityLawyers
Ask Whether Parent Company Hid Information During Cheney's Watch --
When Richard B. Cheney was Halliburton chief executive, he signed documents
spinning off the Texas energy giant's unprofitable insurance subsidiary,
telling shareholders of both companies that the deal would give Highlands
Insurance Co. "the opportunity to achieve its maximum potential."

What's
Next...Concentration Camps? by Anis Shivani "The alarm bells
are going up now, but it is too late. The dirty work has already been
done. It has already been demonstrated what is possible to achieve with
one orchestrated 'attack.' Wait till the next bioterror 'attack,' or
anything using 'weapons of mass destruction' is orchestrated, and every
dissenting voice will shut up. Then the brownshirts will go into action."

NASA
plans to read terrorist's minds at airports Airport security screeners
may soon try to read the minds of travelers to identify terrorists.
Officials of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration have
told Northwest Airlines security specialists that the agency is developing
brain-monitoring devices in cooperation with a commercial firm, which
it did not identify.

The
Waco Road to Baghdad -- by Frank Rich "Last week John Ashcroft
went on TV to announce what he calls the 'first ever White House conference
on missing and exploited children.' It takes an exploiter to know one.
F.B.I. figures show a decline in the kidnapping of children — except
on cable TV. But if you can't crack the anthrax case, why not create
some distracting hysteria by glomming onto a local law enforcement issue
that is the biggest showbiz phenomenon since shark attacks?"

Sue
US for training terrorists: Saudi press RIYADH: A lawsuit against
Islamic groups and three top Saudi royals by relatives of the victims
of the September 11 attacks should instead be brought against Washington
for training terrorists, newspapers here said on Saturday.

AF
extends 14k mobilized Guard, Reserve members The Air Force will
be extending the mobilization of more than 14,000 Air National Guard
and Air Force Reserve members into a second year because of the continuing
requirements of operations "Noble Eagle" and "Enduring
Freedom." [How about operation "Barf
Alert?"]

Officers
Say U.S. Aided Iraq in War Despite Use of Gas A covert American
program during the Reagan administration provided Iraq with critical
battle planning assistance at a time when American intelligence agencies
knew that Iraqi commanders would employ chemical weapons in waging the
decisive battles of the Iran-Iraq war, according to senior military
officers with direct knowledge of the program.

Western
Planes Raid Southern Iraq U.S. and British jet fighters bombed targets
in southern Iraq on Saturday in the second raid this week, the Iraqi
Air Force Command said. It said in a statement the planes struck civilian
and public buildings in Dhi-Qar province, 250 miles south of Baghdad.

Labour
MPs will revolt over Iraq, Kaufman warns Blair Tony Blair was last
night given his starkest warning yet of the growing scale of mainstream
Labour opposition to war with Iraq and distrust of pResident Bush. The
loyalist Gerald Kaufman told Mr Blair of "substantial resistance"
in the Parliamentary Labour Party.

Russia,
Iraq Plan Deal to Bolster Ties Russia and Iraq plan to sign a new
five-year economic cooperation agreement worth $40 billion, reinforcing
Moscow's close ties to Baghdad even as the United States weighs a military
attack to drive Iraqi President Saddam Hussein from power, Iraqi and
Russian officials said today.

Democrats
Rip Fla. Gov. Bush's Pick Gov. Jeb Bush's nominee for child welfare
chief drew fresh criticism Saturday from the Rev. Jesse Jackson and
other Democrats, who said the man should be fired for ties to an essay
that promotes spanking and is demeaning to women.

Federal
energy agency sues California over power grid board A federal energy
oversight agency has sued California in U.S. District Court for defying
its order to dissolve the board that oversees much of the state's electricity
grid. Gov. Gray Davis' four appointees - a fifth spot on the Cal-ISO
board remains vacant - voted unanimously Aug. 7 to ignore the FERC [Federal
Energy Regulatory Commission] order. Before the vote, Davis addressed
his appointees and called the order "nothing less than a hostile takeover
of California's electricity grid by the federal government." FERC is
made up of a majority of Republicans appointed by pResident Bush.

McKinney
supporters hold fundraiser Rep. Cynthia McKinney (D-Ga.), running
in an August 20 Democratic primary to represent her district after five
terms in office and another vicious fight against her, announced at
a fundraiser held in the Mount Airy section here that she is for justice
for Palestinians and for Israelis. McKinney’s challenger is a handpicked
candidate who converted from Republican to Democrat just in time for
this election.

Bush
Guests Include GOP Backers Republican fund-raisers, relatives and
golfer Ben Crenshaw are among dozens of White House overnight guests
pResident Bush and first lady Laura Bush have played host to since moving
in last year.

Sen.
Clinton Builds Political Machine Hillary Rodham Clinton has begun
building a national political organization, softening her liberal image
and taking a lead role in Democratic criticism of pResident Bush --
steps toward a potential campaign to become the first woman president.

Senator
Questions Lack of Indictments A senator leading an investigation
of Enron asked the Justice Department on Friday to explain why it hasn't
prosecuted executives of the energy company that collapsed in December.

A
Daily Enron TIPS Report Daily Enron readers had apparently taken
a cue from Attorney General John Ashcroft by forming their own Corporate
Evildoers TIPS program.

Bush
presses ahead with "enemy combatant" detentions Casting fundamental
constitutional guarantees aside, the Bush Fourth Reich is pressing forward
with its policy of detaining people indefinitely, and without charges
or access to legal counsel, as part of its so-called war on terrorism.
Despite growing opposition to its policy, the Bush mis-ministration
is preparing to expand the practice by allocating additional cells in
military prisons and camps for detainees, including US citizens.

Ex-General
Says Wargames Were Rigged A retired general who commanded "enemy"
forces in a recently concluded $250 million U.S. war game says the exercise
was rigged so that it appeared to validate new war-fighting concepts
it was supposed to test.

Israel
puts pressure on US to strike Iraq Israel signalled its decision
yesterday to put public pressure on pResident George Bush to go ahead
with a military attack on Iraq, even though it believes Saddam Hussein
may well retaliate by striking Israel.

U.S.
methodically preparing for Iraq campaign Aides to Defense Secretary
Donald H. Rumsfeld have created a special Iraq planning unit, composed
largely of civilians, to oversee a military campaign against Saddam
Hussein, the latest sign that pResident Bush is methodically preparing
an invasion to oust the Iraqi leader.

Long
U.S Stay In Afghanistan Predicted American troops will be "needed"
in Afghanistan for many years, according to U.S. war commander Army
Gen. Tommy Franks. In a similar vein, Air Force Gen. Richard Myers,
chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said during a public appearance
Thursday in Savannah, Ga., that the global war on terrorism may go on
for years.

U.S.
Seeks Court Immunity for Troops in Colombia Senior U.S. officials
asked President Alvaro Uribe today to shield U.S. military trainers
in Colombia from prosecution by the International Criminal Court for
any human rights abuses that may arise in connection with their "work."

For
Venezuela, a Move Revives to Oust Chávez Residents are preparing
for the worst: a possibly violent confrontation between the multitudes
of poor who support the country's mercurial president, Hugo Chávez,
and his increasingly restive opponents.

The
Empire Strikes Back -- by Richard Reeves "...we are not only
preparing to get back into the assassination business everywhere in
the world, but our trained killers will be immune from any punishment
and any questioning not personally approved by Bush and his successors....
This is our new idea of law and order. Republicans have taken to calling
the international court 'the rogue court.' We have decided to make our
stand on a 1950s Cold War view of law."

Bush
snubs earth summit George Bush will not attend this month's Johannesburg
earth summit, the White House confirmed yesterday: a decision environmentalists
said illustrated the mis-ministration's contempt for green issues.

Bush
Maintains Fund-Raising Pace For the vacationing pResident Bush,
there is no break in a record-breaking fund-raising tour that has raked
in nearly $105 million for Republican candidates this year.

Leafing
through the Bush legacy -- by Walter Brasch "Usually it takes
years, even decades, for a political leader [sic] to develop his legacy.
George W. Bush, over-achiever that he is, has done it in about 18 months.
And there's still two and one-half years left for him to expand that
legacy."

New
Child Welfare Head in Florida Is Drawing Fire The latest controversy
at the Florida Department of Children and Families, involves a 1989
religious essay which carries the name of Mr. Bush's appointee, Jerry
Regier, on its cover. The essay, entitled "The Christian World View
of The Family," supports spanking of children that may cause "temporary
and superficial bruises and welts" and denounces abortion, parenting
by gays and women in the work force. Women, the essay says, should work
outside the home only if the family is in a financial crisis and should
consider such employment as "bondage."

Far-right
ideas follow new DCF chief The man named Thursday by Gov. Jeb Bush
to head Florida's notoriously inept child welfare agency is an evangelical
Christian who views spanking that causes "bruises or welts" as acceptable
punishment.

DCF
leader: It's OK to spank ''He'll [Jerry Regier] turn that agency
basically into a theocracy,'' said Oklahoma state Rep. M.C. Leist, who
serves on that social services appropriations subcommittee. "You
need to watch out with Jerry." Deborah Schroth, an attorney with
Florida Legal Services, a statewide public interest law firm in Jacksonville,
said state law specifically forbids corporal punishment that results
in bruises and welts. The new DCF chief's "view of what is not
child abuse is contrary to Florida law," Schroth said.

California
county opts-in for tougher privacy law In what may be more evidence
of an emerging national backlash against "opt-out" financial privacy
laws, California's San Mateo County this month approved a law requiring
banks to get customer permission before sharing their data with third
parties.

An
Imaginary Homicide -- by Bob Herbert "If you are going to charge
three defendants with capital murder for killing a newborn, do you have
an obligation to show that the baby really was killed? Not in Alabama,
you don't. Do you need to show, somehow, that the baby ever existed?
Not in Alabama. Not if the defendants are poor, black and retarded..."

Republican
candidate sues to keep Katherine Harris off ballot Katherine Harris'
opponent in the Republican primary for a central Florida congressional
seat sued Thursday to have the former secretary of state kicked off
the ballot. John Hill of Sarasota says Harris should be thrown off the
13th Congressional District ballot because she violated a state law
that required her to file a letter when she qualified to run for Congress
stating when she would resign as secretary of state.

Global
warmth for U.S. after 9/11 turns to frost [Photo of London protestor's
sign reads over US map:] "Number One Rogue
Nation."
In recent months, polls have shown a less-than subtle change in attitudes
toward Americans, U.S. foreign policy and, in particular, the president
from Texas. British newspapers reported Thursday that secret polls commissioned
by Prime Minister Tony Blair revealed "spectacular unpopularity"
for Bush among voters here. "Around the world, from Western Europe
to the Far East, many see the United States as arrogant, hypocritical,
self-absorbed, self-indulgent and contemptuous of others," Peter
Peterson, chairman of the council and of The Blackstone Group, a New
York private investment bank, says. "'This is not a Muslim country
issue. It has metastasized to the rest of the world and includes some
of our closest European allies."[Even
given the sympathy for 9-11, the Bush mis-ministration has managed to
make the USA the most hated nation in the world, even amongst its staunchest
allies. We Americans at CLG are not surprised that the Usurper Idiot
has ruined diplomacy worldwide. We predicted as much from the outset
of the coup. As I wrote in my Not My
President's Day Speech back in February, 2001, "The theft
of our democracy 'sets the tone' for the Bush Occupation: His Occupation
is an extension of his naked grab of power: THEFT, FRAUD, VIOLENCE and
the violation of the national will are the 'tone' that he has set in
Washington," and around the world.]

Report:
Enron Manipulated Market Enron Corp. in two years earned tens of
millions of dollars from energy deals as the result of questionable
trading tactics and hidden relationships, a government report concludes.

Klayman:
Cheney 'investigating me' Government watchdog Larry Klayman today
accused the Bush mis-ministration of investigating him in an "illegal"
effort to "intimidate" him into backing off his own investigation of
Vice pResident Dick Cheney's alleged corporate improprieties.

Bush,
Daschle Spar over Homeland Security Agency pResident Bush accused
the Democratic-led Senate on Thursday of tying the hands of his proposed
Homeland Security Department while Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle
said that Bush was seeking "dictatorial powers" over the agency.

Judge
Stays Order on Identifying Detainees A federal judge ruled yesterday
that the Bush mis-ministration does not have to immediately reveal the
names of those detained in the investigation of the Sept. 11 attacks.

Firefighters
Vote to Boycott Bush Sept. 11 Tribute The International Association
of Fire Fighters voted unanimously on Wednesday to boycott a national
tribute to firefighters who died on Sept. 11, in an angry response to
pResident Bush's rejection of a bill that included $340 million to fund
fire departments.

Joe
Lieberman Joins Big Brother The Return of the Thought Police --
by Nat Hentoff "With Congress now in recess, it looks as if one
of the only chances we have to be saved from the unblinking eye of Big
Brother is to prevent Operation TIPS from being slipped into a House-Senate
conference committee in September."

Guantanamo
Bay Suicide Attempts At Least 30 Such Incidents Reported Among Detainees
-- Doctors at the U.S. Naval Base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, reportedly
say that in the seven months that the U.S. has been keeping al Qaeda
and Taliban prisoners there, about thirty have tried to kill themselves.

'Dirty
bomber' has no links to al-Qaeda The investigation into Jose Padilla,
who is accused of planning to detonate a radioactive "dirty bomb" in
the United States, has found no evidence that he was preparing such
an attack and little to suggest that he had any support from al-Qaeda
to do so, FBI officials say.

Antiterror
Chief Quits F.B.I. The F.B.I.'s counterterrorism chief, who has
overseen the investigations of the Sept. 11 terror attacks and last
year's deadly anthrax mailings, has decided to retire, with no replacement
yet chosen, the bureau said today.

US
adviser warns of Armageddon One of the Republican party's most respected
foreign policy gurus yesterday appealed for pResident Bush to halt his
plans to invade Iraq, warning of "an Armageddon
in the Middle East". The outspoken remarks from Brent Scowcroft,
who advised a string of Republican presidents, including Mr Bush's father,
represented an embarrassment for the mis-ministration
on a day it was attempting to rally British public support for an eventual
war.

Top
Republicans Break With Bush on Iraq Strategy Leading Republicans
from Congress, the State Department and past administrations have begun
to break ranks with pResident Bush over his mis-ministration's high-profile
planning for war with Iraq, saying the mis-ministration has neither
adequately prepared for military action nor made the case that it is
needed.

Blair
refuses ministers cabinet debate on Iraq Requests for discussion
of potential attack refused Tony Blair has blocked attempts by senior
ministers to stage a full-scale cabinet debate on the threat of a British-backed
invasion of Iraq to overthrow Saddam Hussein, it emerged last night.
With backbench Labour critics becoming more restless, veteran ex-minister
Gerald Kaufman today warns of "substantial resistance" at Westminster
if Mr Blair follows "the most intellectually
backward American president [sic]
of my lifetime" into the looming conflict.

Bush
vs. Women -- by Nicholas D. Kristof "The central moral struggle
of the 19th century concerned slavery, and that of the 20th pitted democracy
against Nazism, Communism and other despotic isms. Our own pre-eminent
moral challenge will be to ease the brutality that kills and maims girls
and women across much of Africa and Asia. Alas, this summer President
[sic] Bush is putting the U.S. on the wrong side of the battle lines."

Fireman's
Fund to stop insuring NYC firefighter union Spokesmen for the Uniformed
Firefighters Association said they understood the Fireman's Fund Insurance
Co., known for its fire hat logo, no longer wanted to insure the union
because of the risk of terrorist attacks.

GM
trial ruined by rogue gene strain (UK) Seed sown in GM trials over
the past three years has been contaminated with controversial antibiotic
genes which went undetected by government inspectors. Embarrassed officials
admitted yesterday that there had been a "serious breach" of regulations
and that the seed company, Aventis, was under investigation and could
be prosecuted if found to have broken licence conditions.

The
Fundamentals Are Not Sound -- by John J. Sweeney "The president
[sic]'s consistent efforts to free corporations from oversight and accountability
-- whether it's workplace safety or environmental responsibility or
securities oversight -- and his reluctance to crack down on corporate
crime until it was too late, were steps in the wrong direction. And
his threat to privatize Social Security would add to retirement insecurity
for millions of workers."

Criticism
of Bush/Cheney in Military Newspaper -- by M.D.W. "Bush, Cheney,
Rumsfeld and White are a gang of four who have ordered U.S. military
members to be put in harm’s way for oil profits and that divisions be
consolidated to free up money for private contractors. This administration
has overseen a wrecked economy, befriended corporations that robbed
their own employees, has tried to put Social Security into a losing
stock market, restricted health care for veterans and deployed military
members to fatten oil executives’ pockets. It’s time for leadership
the military can trust. It’s time for the gang of four to go!"
(Scroll to letter entitled, "America's Leadership")

Camps
for Citizens: Ashcroft's Hellish Vision Attorney general shows himself
as a menace to liberty -- by Jonathan Turley "Atty. Gen. John Ashcroft's
announced desire for camps for U.S. citizens he deems to be 'enemy combatants'
has moved him from merely being a political embarrassment to being a
constitutional menace. Ashcroft's plan, disclosed last week but little
publicized, would allow him to order the indefinite incarceration of
U.S. citizens and summarily strip them of their constitutional rights
and access to the courts by declaring them enemy combatants. The proposed
camp plan should trigger immediate congressional hearings and reconsideration
of Ashcroft's fitness for this important office. Whereas Al Qaeda is
a threat to the lives of our citizens,Ashcroft
has become a clear and present threat to our liberties."

Padilla
probably not tied to al-Qaida, U.S. officials admit No evidence
of preparations for ‘dirty bomb’ attack found -- An American touted
by Attorney General John Ashcroft as a significant terrorism figure
with plans to detonate a radioactive bomb is probably a “small fish”
with no ties to al-Qaida cell members in the United States, law enforcement
officials said.

Iraqi
Air Defenses Hit, U.S. Says Aircraft from the U.S.-British coalition
patrolling southern Iraq bombed two Iraqi air defense sites Wednesday,
the U.S. Central Command said.

Return
to Afghanistan: Americans begin to suffer grim and bloody backlash
It is already coming. The Americans are being attacked almost every
night. There have been three shootings in Kandahar, with an American
officer wounded in the neck near the airport two weeks ago. American
troops can no longer dine out in Kandahar's cafés. Today, US forces
are under attack in Khost province. Two Afghan auxiliaries were killed
and five American soldiers wounded near the Pakistan border at the end
of July.

Hatfill
Photo Used in Anthrax Probe The FBI publicly declares Dr. Steven
J. Hatfill no more or less important than 30 "people of interest" in
the investigation into last fall's anthrax attacks, but law enforcement
officials concede he is being treated differently.

Troubled
Child Welfare System is an Election Issue for Jeb Bush "Florida
is clearly among the most dangerous and dysfunctional [child welfare]
systems we've seen, and we've seen a lot," said Ira Lustbader, associate
director of Children's Rights Inc., a New York nonprofit organization
that has sued Florida's child welfare agency. "It's scary and it's unacceptable."

H.R.2931
Attorneys for televangelist Pat Robertson have crafted a bill in the
U.S. Congress that would change more than 200 years of law and tradition
in the U.S. -- and which would allow churches and houses of worship
not only to endorse candidates for political office, but also to organize
"political action committees" to raise money for political candidates.
Details: click here.

Scientists
shocked at GM gene transfer Weeds have become stronger and fitter
by cross-breeding with genetically modified crops, leading to fears
that superweeds which are difficult or impossible to control may invade
farms growing standard crops.

Bacardi
accused of campaign to oust Castro Rum company boss 'bankrolled
CIA mission to kill Cuban leader' -- The Bacardi rum company has been
engaged for more than 40 years in clandestine attempts to overthrow
the Cuban government by both violent and other means, according to a
new book. The company is accused of bankrolling extreme rightwing groups
and American mainstream politicians in an effort to remove Fidel Castro
and re-establish its profitable empire on the island.

Report
Voices Suspicions on Energy Crisis Federal energy regulators, struggling
to get to the bottom of the California energy crisis of 2000-01, said
for the first time today that there was evidence that natural gas prices
might have been manipulated, helping to drive up power prices. They
also said that they had found evidence of possible manipulation of electricity
prices by Enron and two other companies, Avista and El Paso Electric,
and began formal investigations to determine whether they broke federal
electricity-trading rules.

When
the Truth Had Consequences -- Big Shots, Hard Time -- by Dan Morgan
"The icon of this corrupt era, Enron, remains untouched. Nine months
after the first revelations about phony financial reporting and document
shredding involving Enron, not a single official of that company has
been criminally indicted. Not one cent has been transferred from top
Enron executives to the employees or shareholders who lost billions
of dollars."

Bush
Convenes Economic Forum [Ergo, the Dow
drops 206 points.] pResident Bush heard today from a selection
of 240 hand-picked guests who largely praised his policies at an economic
forum designed to showcase the mis-ministration's concerns.

Bush
Budget Director Says U.S. Revenues Slipping pResident Bush's Budget
Director, Mitch Daniels, said on Tuesday that government revenues may
slip further than expected, exacerbating near-term budget deficits unless
government spending is restrained.

Justice
Dept. Not Cooperating in Probe The head of the Senate Judiciary
Committee and a top Republican on the panel expressed concern Tuesday
that the Justice Department was not fully cooperating with a probe into
alleged security lapses in the FBI's translator program.

Iranian
President Says U.S. Leaders 'Misused' Sept. 11 President Mohammad
Khatami of Iran struck out at pResident Bush and other senior American
officials at a news conference here today, saying they had "misused"
the Sept. 11 attacks on the United States "to create an atmosphere of
violence and war" across the world that could sow the seeds for still
more destruction.

In
Kabul, Iranian President Blasts U.S.'s Policy Iranian President
Mohammad Khatami, whose Islamic government has been denounced by the
Bush mis-ministration as part of an "axis of evil," lashed back during
a one-day visit here today, condemning Washington's "angry policy" and
warning that "no country should use the fight against terrorism to impose
its power on other countries."

Bush
risks isolating US, cautions Kissinger Henry Kissinger, the former
US Secretary of State, urged pResident Bush to use extreme care in drafting
war plans against Iraq or risk isolating America in the eyes of the
world. [When a U.S. war criminal is advocating
caution with Bush policies, you know we are in serious peril...]

European
Union Urges Aspirants to Rebuff U.S. on World Court The European
Union this week warned the 13 nations hoping to join the organization
that they should resist signing any agreement, as requested by Washington,
that would protect Americans from the reach of the new International
Criminal Court.

FBI
tries to link Hatfill to mailbox FBI agents investigating a series
of deadly attacks using anthrax sent through the mail are circulating
photographs of former federal scientist Steven J. Hatfill in the area
of a mailbox that tested positive for traces of anthrax, NBC News has
learned. A U.S. official, meanwhile, confirmed a published report Tuesday
that Hatfill failed a polygraph test while undergoing security clearances
a year ago, one month before the first of the anthrax mailings arrived
at a Florida newspaper.

Michigan
migrant workers face deportation after exposing abusive conditions
Two migrant workers are facing possible deportation to Mexico after
exposing abusive conditions at the Pontiac, Michigan landscaping firm
Torre and Bruglio. They are being defended by the Michigan Migrant Legal
Assistance Project, which is aiding migrant workers in a lawsuit against
the landscaper.

Lawsuit
Would Challenge Government's Failure to Protect Puget Sound Orca WhalesFisheries Service: Resident Whales in Puget
Sound Not "Significant" A coalition of environmental groups
filed a 60-day notice of intent to sue the National Marine Fisheries
Service for finding that Puget Sound's Southern Resident killer whales
are not 'significant,' a finding that precludes protection under the
Endangered Species Act.

Justice
Goes Into Hiding -- by Bob Herbert "Top law enforcement officials
in Texas and at the Justice Department in Washington were aware of the
hateful treatment of black people caught in a drug sting gone haywire
in the small panhandle town of Tulia, but no one bothered to do anything
about it. The fact that a monstrous, racially motivated miscarriage
of justice was occurring, that innocent people had been wrongfully accused
and that entire families were being ruined did not prompt anyone to
intervene."

Authoritative
Voice on the Economy Still Lacking in Bush Mis-ministration pResident
Bush has angrily denounced corporate criminals and cheerily declared
that the economy is heading in the right direction. But his words have
often had the opposite effect than he intended, sometimes seeming to
send the financial markets diving. "He opens
his mouth, and the market goes down," said Stephen Moore,
the president of the Club for Growth, a political action committee that
supports conservative Republican candidates.

The
Feds Close In On Enron After a summer lull, the feds are widening
their roundup with subpoenas and a new grand jury. Under intense public
and political pressure, government investigators have dramatically accelerated--and
apparently broadened--their investigation of Enron.

Ex-Enron
Execs Seek Millions in Severance Several former Enron Corp. insiders
who earned a combined $25 million in the year before the company crashed
are asking for millions more in severance pay, a question a bankruptcy
judge on Monday said he will answer later this month.

Pitt
Says Lawyers Will Be Held Accountable to Directors The Securities
and Exchange Commission, complying with a new federal accounting law,
is preparing rules that will require company lawyers to report evidence
of misconduct to their boards, the S.E.C. chairman, Harvey L. Pitt,
said today.

Clueless
in Crawford -- by Paul Krugman "Some cynics attribute the continuing
absence of Enron indictments to the Bush family's loyalty code. But
the alternative explanation is both innocent and chilling: Enron executives
may have deluded and defrauded their shareholders without actually breaking
the law."

Bush
May Withhold Anti-Terror Money[election
reform allocation in package] pResident Bush plans to announce
at an economic forum Tuesday that he will not release $5.1 billion officially
earmarked for combating terrorism -- some of which Congress designated
for purposes unrelated to homeland security. Among the projects: $400
million for election reform; $200 million for combating AIDS, tuberculosis
and malaria overseas; and $50 million for flood prevention and response.

U.S.
to Begin Fingerprinting Foreign Visitors The Justice Department
has chosen Sept. 11 as the starting date for a new program that will
require tens of thousands of foreign visitors to be fingerprinted and
photographed at the border, U.S. officials announced Monday.

Bush's
snoopers plan hits backlash The Bush mis-ministration, backing away
from a controversial anti-terrorism plan in the face of a public backlash,
says it will no longer solicit terrorism tips from utility workers,
postal employees and anyone else with access to people's homes.

US
considers assassination squads Pentagon said to be discussing use
of units to work abroad -- The US government is considering plans to
send elite military units on missions to assassinate al-Qaida leaders
in countries around the world, without necessarily informing the governments
involved, it was reported yesterday.

Both
US parties back away from Iraq war Top politicians say Bush must
prove Saddam is real threat -- Leading politicians from both parties
in the US foreign policy debate yesterday called for proof that the
Iraqi leader, President Saddam Hussein, represents an immediate threat
to the US, ending weeks of bipartisan support for a military attack
on Iraq.

Iraq
makes its case to the world Iraqi efforts to convince the world
it is a victim of false US claims and allegations have risen in recent
days along with the speculation Washington soon will wage war to oust
Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein.

The
Anthrax Files -- by Nicholas D. Kristof "Why did it take nine
months to... read Dr. Hatfill's unpublished novel, Emergence,
which has been sitting in the copyright office since 1998 and draws
on his experiences in South Africa and Antarctica to recount a biological
warfare attack on Congress? Moreover, what was a man like Dr. Hatfill
who had served in the armed forces of two white racist governments (Rhodesia
and South Africa) doing in a U.S. Army lab working with Ebola?"
[...working for ???]

FBI
Said Not Ready to Clear Hatfill Investigators probing last fall's
anthrax attacks have no physical evidence linking Dr. Steven J. Hatfill
to the crime, a federal law enforcement official said Monday, a day
after Hatfill forcefully declared his innocence. Still, the FBI is unwilling
to clear him.

Bush's
Plan For Social Security Loses Favor pResident Bush's campaign to
allow Americans to invest a portion of their Social Security taxes in
the stock market is losing support among Republican congressional candidates,
as Wall Street's sinking prices reinforce concerns about the proposal.

Privatization
of Water States Turn to New Sources to Meet Demand -- The three
largest water companies in the nation -- USFilter, United Water and
American Water Works -- are now owned by French and German conglomerates,
by Vivendi, Suez and RWE. It doesn't help the boosters that one of the
big players, until recently, was the water development company Azurix,
a subsidiary of Enron Corp.

Acid
rain threatening songbirds Acid rain is contributing to declining
songbird populations, say scientists. A study of the breeding patterns
of North American wood thrushes since 1966 in the eastern United States
has found that its decline over the past 30 years can be closely correlated
with levels of the atmospheric pollution acid rain.

Asian
Smog Cloud Threatens Millions, Says U.N. A two-mile-thick cloud
of pollution shrouding southern Asia is threatening the lives of millions
of people in the region and could have an impact much further afield,
according to a U.N.-sponsored study.

GOP
33rd District Candidate Undeterred By Past Events [Middletown, CT]
As he begins his campaign against five-term state Rep. Joseph C. Serra,
GOP challenger Jim Marhevka says he's ready to confront questions about
his arrests in 1997 for stealing money from a business and drunken driving.
Police alleged Marhevka took about $4,000 from a Cromwell pub located
in the same Sebethe Drive golfing complex where he worked as a partner
in a golf school. He was charged with a felony, but pleaded guilty to
a misdemeanor after making restitution.

Dem
Chair: Gore Deserves to Run for White House Al Gore deserves the
chance to run again for the White House, the Democratic Party chairman
said Sunday. "He was robbed, and that's a fact," Terry McAuliffe
said. [President Gore, and the entire United
States of America, were the victims of a coup d'etat.]

U.S.
Lawyer Defends TIPS Program, While Admitting Program Will Produce Little
Most leads that neighbors would pass along in the government's proposed
network of anti-terrorism tipsters will produce little, a top Justice
Department official predicted Saturday. Assistant Attorney General Michael
Chertoff, the mis-ministration's lead anti-terrorism prosecutor, defended
the program as a legitimate way to protect Americans, despite criticism
it infringed upon their civil liberties.

And
Justice for All John Ashcroft crowed over the arrest of alleged
‘dirty bomber’ Jose Padilla. But do the Feds have a case?

Iraq
offers UN new deal The Iraqi president, Saddam Hussein, has personally
signalled for the first time through a Labour MP that he is ready to
bow to international pressure by allowing UN weapons inspectors back
into the country.

Critics:
Bush Hasn't Made Case Yet Members of Congress said Sunday that pResident
Bush has not yet made his case for an invasion of Iraq, although they
would support him if there is evidence Saddam Hussein may use weapons
of mass destruction.

Bush
forced to play down talk of war pResident George Bush moved yesterday
to damp down expectations of an early American assault on Iraq, saying
he had set no deadline. But he stressed that he considered Saddam Hussein
"an enemy until proven otherwise".

Rumsfeld
Weighs Covert Activities by Military Units Defense Secretary Donald
H. Rumsfeld is considering ways to expand broadly the role of American
Special Operations forces in the global campaign against terrorism [the
Bush campaign for oil], including sending them worldwide
to capture or kill Al Qaeda leaders far from the battlefields of Afghanistan,
according to Pentagon and intelligence officials.

Fearing
Theft, U.S. Plans to Relocate Nuclear Fuel The United States is
moving rapidly toward shipping tons of bomb-grade plutonium and uranium
out of a vulnerable laboratory in New Mexico, according to Energy Department
officials and internal documents. Experts said it would be the first
time the government has moved nuclear weapons fuel to reduce the risk
of terrorists stealing it. [Of course, if nuclear
waste was not generated, there would be nothing to steal...]

Next
Stop, Nevada! -- Feds to Move Nuclear Material From Los Alamos to
Site Near Yucca Mountain -- Several tons of weapons-grade plutonium
and highly enriched uranium-enough nuclear material to potentially destroy
a sizable chunk of the southwest United States and wreak more havoc
downwind-will be moved from the cave-hidden Technical Area 18 at the
Las Alamos Laboratory in New Mexico over the next three years, according
to internal documents obtained by The Village Voice.

Democrats
say Bush snubbing state (CA) Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., offers
this challenge to those who say the Bush mis-ministration will step
in to help California avert a looming crisis over water: "How much are
they willing to bet?" Feinstein's assessment is shared by other Democratic
officials who say their fears about George W. Bush have been realized
after observing the White House's reluctance to help solve California's
energy crisis, its refusal to buy offshore oil leases and now its threats
to cut the state's supply of Colorado River water.

Florida
gains as brother aids brother -- by Brendan Farrington "Whether
it's brotherly love or an effort to gain support in a state that almost
cost him the presidency [sic], George W. Bush has been paying an awful
lot of attention to Florida. The president [sic] has given Florida money
to restore the Everglades, bought back oil drilling leases and visited
Florida often since the 2000 election. Florida also has benefited from
rule bending in federal policy as its reaped a wealth of grants and
federal money for issues ranging from education to domestic security."

Remarks
by Chairman Terence R. McAuliffe DNC Summer Meeting General Session
Saturday, August 10, 2002 - Las Vegas, Nevada -- 'The Bush Presidency
[sic]: An End Unto Itself' [text] "...All Americans trusted
that President [sic] Bush would never exploit the national crisis that
united us. But we watched as he used September's tragedy to explain
away last August's deficits. And then he cynically made 9/11 the cornerstone
of the Republican 2002 election strategy. We trusted George Bush to
ensure that the disenfranchisement we saw in Florida in 2000 would never
happen again. But a year and a half later, and just three months before
an election, we're still waiting for election reform. Whether the President
[sic] likes it or not, every vote really does count ... and every vote
must be counted. You know, I can't believe
that almost two years after the recount debacle, Katherine Harris is
still stumbling her way into the headlines. Only someone who can conclude
that George Bush actually won Florida can manage to make her resignation
effective two weeks ago..."

Chairman
of Democrats Faults Bush as a Leader The chairman of the Democratic
National Committee issued a broad assault today on the leadership of
pResident Bush, declaring that he had squandered "an extraordinary opportunity"
to take the nation through difficult times. The chairman, Terry McAuliffe,
said that Bush had mismanaged the economy, tilted the White House to
help corporate interests and "cynically made 9/11 the cornerstone of
the Republican 2002 election strategy."

Democratic
Chair Lashes Out at Bush Democratic Party chairman Terry McAuliffe
accused pResident Bush on Saturday of exploiting
the Sept. 11 attacks for political gain and heading an "administration
adrift" that squanders vast opportunities for domestic achievement.

Democrats
Say Poised for Election Victory Democrats said on Saturday they
were poised for victory in the November congressional elections and
accused Republicans of siding with special interests on issues ranging
from Social Security to a prescription drug benefit for the elderly.

For
Bush, a New Vulnerability Democrats View Domestic Issues as Key
to Midterm Elections -- Late last week, the Republican National Committee
distributed a memo that unintentionally spoke volumes about how the
political ground has shifted for pResident Bush.

Stagnant
Wages Pose Added Risks to Weak Economy The wages of more than 100
million workers are still stagnant, endangering the consumer spending
that sustains the fragile recovery. The stagnation in total wages paid
to the nation's employees outside of government is now a year old, according
to newly revised government data, which paints a bleak picture of the
economy. [The "stagnation" of the
entire economic, social, and political sphere of the United States commenced
in November, 2000, when the Idiot Usurper stole the election.]

Bush
Stance on Iraq Crumbling A leading Republican yesterday warned pResident
Bush against war with Iraq. Bush ally Dick Armey declared: "My own view
would be to let Saddam Hussein bluster, let him rant and rave all he
wants. White House hawks feared the outburst could start a domino effect
as public support for an attack crumbles.

Bush
rhetoric is scaring Europe, says former Cabinet Minister Peter Mandelson
has added his voice to the growing concern about pResident Bush's handling
of the Iraq crisis with a warning that the US leader's aggressive rhetoric
risks alienating European public opinion. The former Cabinet Minister,
who remains close to Downing Street, spoke out as a new poll revealed
two-thirds of voters in the Prime Minister's own constituency do not
back military action against Saddam Hussein.

Ex-Army
Scientist Denies Role in Anthrax Attacks Reporters bang on Steven
J. Hatfill's door at all hours. An Internet Web site labels him "Steven
'Mengele' Hatfill, Nazi swine." Cable talk shows routinely discuss whether
he is last fall's anthrax mailer. And twice, the FBI has very publicly
swept into Hatfill's Frederick apartment. [All that is missing is the
arrest warrant, which is unlikely to be produced, as:] Dick
Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld involved in CIA's use of anthrax during Cold
War[Could these nutcases be involved in
the 2001 anthrax dissemination to Daschle and Leahy, as well???]
Newly obtained documents show that the Ford administration continued
to conceal information about government scientist Frank Olson -- particularly
his role in some of the CIA's most controversial research of the Cold
War, on anthrax and other biological weapons. The documents
show that two of the key officials involved in the decision to withhold
that information were White House aides Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld,
today the nation's Vice pResident and Secretary of Defense.

Bush
Rolls Back Rules on Privacy of Medical Data The Bush mis-ministration
today formally rolled back some major protections for the privacy of
medical records adopted by President Bill Clinton. In a recent speech,
Terry McAuliffe, chairman of the Democratic National Committee, said
the White House seemed to worry less about the privacy of medical records
than about the secrecy of Vice pResident Dick Cheney's energy task force.

U.S.
Seeks to Limit Conservation Law The Bush mis-ministration is arguing
that a major environmental law does not apply to the vast majority of
oceans under United States control, a move that environmentalists say
could allow military maneuvers, oil and gas pipelines, commercial fishing,
ocean dumping and scores of other activities to escape public environmental
review.

What
Goes Around Comes Around: Wandering Load of Rejected Ash Returns to
Pennsylvania Sixteen years after its global wanderings began, a
load of nearly 2,345 tons of burned garbage has returned home. Most
of the original cargo of ash was dumped in the Atlantic and Indian Oceans
- a decision that cost two shipping company executives prison terms.
The rest of the rejected ash spent a dozen years on a beach in Haiti,
and the last two years on a rusty barge in Florida [hopefully,
where Jeb Bush and Katherine Harris could smell it].

Air
Force Summoned to Fight West Nile Virus In an attempt to stem the
spread of West Nile virus , Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La., said she planned
to ask the Air Force next week to send in a special operations squadron
to spray insecticide in hard-hit regions. The
operations group of the 910th Flight Wing, based in Ohio, specializes
in insect control [?!?].

I.M.F.
Loan to Brazil Also Shields U.S. Interests The Bush mis-ministration
also had political and diplomatic reasons to reverse its prior stance
of "tough love" when it came to Brazil. The I.M.F. loan was carefully
structured to affect Brazil's upcoming elections, in
which two left-wing candidates are in the lead and had been
threatening to reverse Brazil's free-market approach to economics and
trade.

Lawmaker
to Subpoena Citigroup on IPOs U.S. House Financial Services Committee
Chairman Rep. Michael Oxley said on Friday he plans to subpoena documents
from Citigroup Inc. regarding shares sold in initial public offerings
that may have been bought by WorldCom Inc. executives.

Ex
- Tyco CEO May Face Additional Charges New York prosecutors could
file additional charges against former Tyco International Ltd. (TYC.N)
Chief Executive L. Dennis Kozlowski, including grand larceny, sources
close to an investigation said on Friday.

CRRA'S
Law Firms Sued State Attorney General Richard Blumenthal Wednesday
sued two prominent law firms that advised the Connecticut Resources
Recovery Authority on an ill-fated deal with Enron that resulted in
the loss of $220 million in public funds last year.

Terror
threat overblown, says expert The response of U.S. policymakers
to the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks is based upon an overestimate of the
threat of terrorism, and ignores the lessons that can be gained from
an interdisciplinary approach to the problem, according to some think
tank experts who are analyzing the issue.

Under
Fire, Justice Shrinks TIPS Program Justice Department officials
have decided to scale back the controversial Operation TIPS program
before it even begins, saying yesterday that they no longer plan to
ask thousands of mail carriers, utility workers and others with access
to private homes to report suspected terrorist activity.

Gov't
Modifies Operation TIPS Plan After weeks of furious criticism, the
Bush mis-ministration has modified plans for a proposed network of anti-terrorism
tipsters to exclude people from industries and government agencies that
often have access to people's homes.

US
Appeals Order to Release Sept. 11 Arrestee Names The U.S. Department
of Justice on Friday said it had appealed a federal court order to release
all the names of those it has arrested and detained in its investigation
of the Sept. 11 hijacked plane attacks.

Dick
Armey: Unprovoked Attack Against Iraq Violates International Law
House majority leader, Representative Dick Armey, warned Thursday night
that an unprovoked attack against Iraq would violate international law
and undermine world support for pResident Bush's goal of ousting President
Hussein. The remarks by Mr. Armey, a Texas Republican who is retiring
this year, were the most prominent sign of Congressional unease that
the Bush Fourth Reich is moving rapidly toward a war against Iraq and
were especially striking coming from a leading conservative and a staunch
Bush ally.

Bush
loyalists not happy with Iraq attack plan Some of the most loyal
supporters of pResident Bush are warning that he does not have the grounds
for going to war against Iraq, and that to do so risks inflaming existing
conflicts in Afghanistan, the Middle East and Kashmir.

US
schools returning to segregation American schools are now becoming
increasingly segregated by race, according to a new study. Nearly half
a century after the famous battles to integrate the school system, classrooms
have become "re-segregated" and more race-based, according to the survey.

Senator
Clinton Wants Ranch Chat with Bush Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton yesterday
asked for a powwow with pResident Bush at his Texas ranch to confront
him over White House reluctance to OK extra money to monitor the health
of Ground Zero workers. Escalating her money fight with Bush, Clinton
said she's willing even to help him burn down trees, cut brush or remove
stumps - some of Bush's frequent activities during past vacations at
his 1,600-acre ranch.

Florida
adoption law under fire Rule to publish all sexual partners raises
questions -- In Florida, mothers who want to give up their children
for adoption, must first do something very unusual: go public with some
very private information.

Does
Ashcroft 'Obey the Rule of Law'? Justice Department Goes After Abortion
Rights -- by Ginger Adams Otis "Two years ago, when U.S. Attorney
General John Ashcroft was sweating through his Senate confirmation hearings,
he swore that his personal dislike of abortion wouldn't conflict with
the job. 'I will obey the rule of law,' he intoned, again and again.
But he has a strange way of obeying. In one of many recent attacks on
abortion rights, the Department of Justice—which Ashcroft oversees—has
filed a 'friend of the court' brief (amicus curiae, in lawyers' Latin)
in a case involving reproductive freedom currently before the Court
of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit."

Jeb
Bush Stripped Civil Right The Florida Department of Corrections
is investigating an error that may have disenfranchised a number of
eligible voters in four counties in the past four years. "We all learned
in 2000 that every vote counts," said Fort Lauderdale NAACP President
William McCormick, referring to the November, 2000
s-election. "I don't care if it only happened to one person.
This is not supposed to happen at all."

New
GOP Book of Lies Memo to Republican candidates for the House: Never
let Democrats "get away with" using words such as privatization or stock
market when they criticize GOP plans for Social Security. Avoid supporting
any specific proposal for personal retirement accounts — the concept
backed by pResident Bush to let workers invest part of their payroll
taxes on their own. And "never use the word 'privatize' when referring
to Medicare modernization or reforms." Those and other morsels of "advice"
are in a 280-page campaign primer distributed in recent weeks to House
GOP candidates [maggots] by the party's congressional campaign committee.
The material was obtained by The Associated Press.

Cheney
Dodges Halliburton Questions Vice pResident Dick Cheney ventured
out of hiding yesterday. It was his first public appearance since becoming
embroiled in allegations that his former company, Halliburton, cooked
its books during his tenure as CEO.

White
House on offensive Protesters disrupted a speech by Vice pResident
Dick Cheney Wednesday, chanting "Cheney
is a corporate crook", as both the vice pResident and
pResident Bush went on the offensive regarding the economy and continuing
corporate scandal saga.

Man
in Anthrax Probe Bragged of Ties to Rightwing Military in Rhodesia
One of the men under scrutiny* [*Does he receive
blanket immunity if it's determined that Karl Rove hired him to disseminate
the anthrax to Daschle and Leahy?] by the FBI's anthrax investigation
is a former U.S. soldier who bragged about ties to a feared counterinsurgency
force that fought for the white minority government of Rhodesia.

Microwave
Weapons May Be Ready For Iraq An attack on Iraq is expected to see
the first use of high-power microwave weapons that produce a split-second
spike of energy powerful enough to damage electronic components and
scramble computer memories. However, HPM weapons now available to be
used against Iraq are not talked about openly.

Iraq
plans urban warfare to thwart US Saddam Hussein has told his regional
officials to expect urban warfare if American forces invade, according
to information received by US intelligence.

Iraq
war could engulf region, Britain warns US Britain has strongly advised
the United States against attacking Iraq, warning that it risked intensifying
the conflicts in Afghanistan, Israel and Kashmir, senior defence and
diplomatic sources say.

Mirror
Readers Reject War Against Iraq91% vote NO to Iraq attack -- Daily
Mirror readers have voted overwhelmingly against war with Iraq. Almost
91 per cent of the 11,855 callers to our phone poll said No to a US-led
attack to topple Saddam Hussein. The Mirror asked: Do you support a
war on Iraq?

Rush
Limbaugh: Blast Iraq on 9-11 Radio host says terror anniversary
a good date to attack Saddam -- As New Yorkers prepare to commemorate
the worst terrorist attack in U.S. history, radio talk-show host Rush
Limbaugh [a.k.a. "Pigboy"] is addressing
the notion of an American assault on Iraq timed for Sept. 11 of this
year.

Proof
at last that high-flying jets affect climate An unplanned experiment
- the three-day grounding of air traffic after last September's terrorist
attacks in the United States - shows that high-altitude jet vapour trails
affect the weather, scientists say.

Groups
sue to block use of Navy sonar Environmental groups filed suit yesterday
to stop the Navy from using a powerful new sonar system for detecting
enemy submarines, saying the intense underwater sounds can harm whales
and dolphins

Republican
"dirty tricks" in US mid-term elections With the second anniversary
of the 2000 presidential s-election
fast approaching, two recent political developments serve as a warning
that the methods of fraud and conspiracy used to install George W. Bush
in the White House are being employed in the run-up to the November
mid-term congressional elections.

"Cheney
is a Corporate Crook!! No war in Iraq!!"was shouted over
and over by protesters when vice pResident Dick Cheney was at the podium
at the Commonwealth Club in San Francisco, Wednesday.

This chant
was aired on both MoreSh*tNoBrainsCable
andCoupNewsNetwork!!
Approximately 200-300 protesters (KPFA radio report) demonstrated against
the vice pResident. Fascinating note: Cheney stated -- via live transmission
-- that the "football" (the briefcase with the codes to launch
nuclear weapons) travels with him
(instead of the Idiot Usurping pResident, himself)?!?

Vice
pResident Cheney Wants 2nd Term[?!?
Cheney was not elected for his first term and, if justice prevails,
he will likely be already convicted of 9/11
complicity and corporate crimes and
in jail by November, 2004.] Vice pResident
Dick Cheney says he is up for a second term if pResident Bush wants
him as a running mate in 2004.

Economy
Fueling Political Discord The Bush mis-ministration's economic policy
has been a failure, according to Democrats - and, worse, a disorganized
mess. "The president has really offered us not an economic policy, but
an ideological agenda," said Sen. Evan Bayh, D-Ind. The agenda, added
Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., can be summed up as "tax cuts for
the wealthy and weak regulation."

WSJ:
Investigators Widen Enron Probe Federal investigators appear to
have widened an inquiry into U.S. energy trader Enron Corp, probing
whether the company or its executives committed accounting fraud by
borrowing $1 billion in a last-minute bid to stave off bankruptcy, the
Wall Street Journal reported.

Ex-Executives
Say Sham Deal Helped Enron Desperate to meet a year-end profit target,
the Enron Corporation struck a sham energy deal with Merrill Lynch that
let Enron book a $60 million profit in the final days of December 1999,
according to former Enron executives involved in the transaction.

Bush
Faces Criticism From Lawyers Some members of the nation's largest
lawyer group plan to use this week's annual meeting to criticize the
Bush mis-ministration's handling of the terrorism investigation and
business scandals.

More
Detainees flow into Guantanamo Thirty-four detainees suspected of
being al Qaeda terrorists or Taliban fighters arrived at the U.S. naval
base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, from Afghanistan Monday.

Judge
Suspends Proceedings in Standoff on War Prisoner In a standoff over
the constitutional rights of prisoners captured during the war in Afghanistan,
a federal judge in Virginia took the rare action today of suspending
all proceedings in a case in which the government has classified a prisoner
as an "enemy combatant" with almost no legal protections.

Lieberman
bill poses threat (New Haven Register) "Joe Lieberman
could have stopped cold the paranoid idea of turning America into a
nation of government snitches. Instead, the legislation creating a department
of homeland security has sailed through the New Haven Democrat's Senate
committee. There was not even a nod to the alarms over the Justice Department's
idea of recruiting hundreds of thousands of Americans as government
informants. The plan is so repugnant that civil rights advocates and
Republican conservatives have banded together to oppose it."

Philippine
VP Criticizes U.S. Strike-First Stance The Philippines' vice president
warned on Thursday the world might be engulfed in bloodier wars if the
United States pursued a strike-first policy and attacked countries suspected
of aiding terrorists.

Conflict
could soon be nuclear Congress has been warned that pResident
Bush’s proposed attack on Iraq could escalate into a nuclear conflict.
An assessment of Iraq’s capabilities says that the US is unlikely to
knock out many, if any, of President Saddam Hussein’s mobile missile-launchers
in a first wave of airstrikes.

Plans
Advance for War Against Iraq Dramatic satellite photos show just
how far U.S. preparations for war with Iraq have advanced. They are
images of the state-of-the-art al Udeid air base in Qatar, which has
been significantly upgraded over the last six months and is expected
to be used as America's base for military operations against Saddam
Hussein.

US
military 'readies for Iraq action' There are clear signs that the
United States military is gearing up for a potential Iraqi operation.
Long-standing improvements to military infrastructure in the Gulf region
are well under way.

Saudis:
Don't Attack Iraq From Here Saudi Arabia has made clear to Washington
— publicly and privately — that the U.S. military will not be allowed
to use the kingdom's soil in any way for an attack on Iraq, Foreign
Minister Prince Saud said Wednesday.

Pentagon
will not seek UN approval Despite the increasingly loud demands
around the world for any military action against Iraq to be backed by
the United Nations, Washington is unlikely to seek such approval, saying
that it already has ample legal authority.

Bush's
Iraq Policy Draws Fire As the U.S. saber rattles in the direction
of Iraq, European allies are making their own noise in opposition to
war and are insisting that any military action against Baghdad be endorsed
first by the United Nations. A day after German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder
put Washington on notice that his country's solidarity in the war against
terrorism won't extend to "adventures," Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer
called Tuesday for "different priorities" to replace invasion in the
global search for security and peace.

The
country with the world's largest stockpile of weapons of mass destruction
threatens another war -- by Stephen Gowans "How sadly ironic,
then, that 57 years after it dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki,
this very same country, armed to the teeth with weapons of mass destruction,
is preparing to wage all out war against a devastated country it has
attacked and besieged for over a decade. Why? Because, we're told, the
victim might acquire what the aggressor has in spades -- weapons of
mass destruction."

U.S.
Demands N. Korea Inspections The Bush mis-ministration reluctantly
helped mark the start of construction of a nuclear power plant in North
Korea today, but again demanded that the government promptly submit
to inspections to reveal its nuclear capabilities.

Calif.
Power Operator Defies Feds At the urging of Gov. Gray Davis, the
operator of the state's power grid voted Wednesday to defy
federal regulators' orders to restructure its ruling board
[terrific precedent!!!]. The 4-0 vote by California's Independent System
Operator -- which Davis appointed last year -- was another step in the
long-running battle between California Democrats and the Federal Energy
Regulatory Commission, consisting mostly of Republican appointees of
pResident Bush.

GOP
Mayor Labeled 'Sexual Predator' Former Waterbury GOP
Mayor [The Hartford Courant neglected
to mention Giordano's political affiliation.] Philip A. Giordano
"forced himself" on one of the young girls he is charged with sexually
assaulting and has threatened violence against a range of people, a
federal prosecutor revealed for the first time Tuesday in arguing to
keep Giordano behind bars.

Planes'
vapour trails affect weather The vapour trails left in the atmosphere
by jet aircraft have a significant impact on the weather, according
to new research. The grounding of flights for three days after the 11
September attacks gave scientists in the US a unique opportunity to
see what the weather would be like without these vapour trails.

Double
standard on bankruptcy -- by Robert Kuttner "With all the corporate
and accounting scandals, you may have noticed that Congress is also
working on bankruptcy reform legislation. A bill nearly passed last
week and will probably be approved when Congress returns in September...
It is a measure long sought by the banking industry to make it easier
to squeeze money from ordinary individuals who declare bankruptcy after
facing personal hard times or being overwhelmed by debt."

August
8, 2002

Obsession:
Not just a cologne, but a way of governing -- by Don Harrison "It's
pretty scary. In a world growing increasingly hostile to us, with our
economy frighteningly shaky and our vulnerability shockingly evident,
we have a clueless president [sic], surrounded by ideologues. Our checks-and-balances
are barely functioning because dissent is equated with treason in this
"time of war" (against whom?) and judicial appointees must pass muster
by True Believers. Was that an election in
2000 (in which, if you recall, the loser won)? Or was it a coup d'etat?"

Bush's
Conspiracy to Riot -- by Robert Parry "On Nov. 22, 2000, the
so-called 'Brooks Brothers Riot' of Republican activists helped stop
a vote recount in Miami -- and showed how far George W. Bush’s supporters
were ready to go to put their man in the White House... While no legal
charges were filed against the Republicans, newly released documents
show that at least a half dozen of the publicly identified rioters were
paid by Bush’s recount committee."

U.S.
Tries to Halt Suit Against ExxonMobil for Alleged Rights Abuses in Indonesia
The U.S. has moved to block a lawsuit against Exxon Mobil Corp. for
alleged human-rights abuses at its Indonesian natural-gas operations,
claiming the court action could hurt relations with Jakarta and undermine
the war on terrorism [?!?]. The State Department said the
action alleging the oil company knew of human- rights abuses by the
Indonesian military guarding its facilities in Aceh province "could
impair cooperation with the U.S. across the full spectrum of diplomatic
initiatives, including counterterrorism." [The United
States Government is the biggest threat to world peace, consistently
supporting, fomenting, and promoting worldwide terrorism, staring with
the coup d'etat in November, 2000.]

DOJ's
Head Fake on Enron Probe Under growing pressure to explain why executives
from the first major corporate failure, Enron, remain free and uncharged,
sources at the Department of Justice leaked a possible explanation -
the investigation has gone international. In particular, the previously
undisclosed investigation is examining Enron's efforts to win foreign
pipeline, power and water-privatization
projects. In many cases the projects were awarded to Enron without competitive
bidding.

Bush's
Fancy Financial Footwork -- by David Ignatius "It's not something
George W. Bush talks about much -- indeed, it's a fact that has been
virtually purged from his official biography -- but for four years in
the early 1990s, Bush was a director of a company that ultimately collapsed
under the weight of its junk-bond financing and management mistakes.
The privately held company, called Caterair International Inc., was
created in 1989 when Marriott Corp. spun off its airline catering business
to investors organized by the Washington investment bank the Carlyle
Group..."

The
Memory Hole -- by Paul Krugman "Winston Smith, the protagonist
of George Orwell's 'Nineteen Eighty-Four,' was a rewrite man. His job
was to destroy documents that could undermine the government's pretense
of infallibility, and replace them with altered versions. Lately, Winston
Smith has gone to Washington. I'm sure that lots of history is being
falsified as you read this — there are several three-letter agencies
I don't trust at all — but two cases involving the federal budget caught
my eye."

AP:
GOP Changed Spending of Billions The 1994 [Nazi] revolution that
gave Republicans control of the House of Representatives produced a
seismic shift in federal spending, moving tens of billions of dollars
from Democratic to GOP districts, an Associated Press analysis shows.

US
rates 'could hit 1930s levels' Wall Street rallied dramatically
yesterday on hopes that the US Federal Reserve will deliver a shot in
the arm to the American economy next week with an interest rate cut..
That would leave US rates at their lowest since the Depression era of
the 1930s.

Gov't
Defies Order on U.S. Detainee Citing "national security,"
the government refused to give a federal judge information Tuesday about
the interrogation of an American-born prisoner captured in Afghanistan.

Homeland
Security Department to Oversee Visa Program Move Would Limit Role
of State Dept. -- The proposed new Department of Homeland Security would
take a strong new role in the issuance of U.S. visas worldwide amid
increasing criticism that the State Department has handed them out too
easily.

In
Surreal Development, Bush Mis-ministration Routes TIPS Calls to TV Show
America's Most Wanted In a development bordering on what
the American Civil Liberties Union called "surreal," the on-line magazine
Salon.com today revealed that the Department of Justice is forwarding
incoming Operation TIPS calls to the Fox-owned America's Most Wanted
television series. "This is like retaining Arthur Andersen to do all
of the SEC's accounting," said Rachel King, an ACLU Legislative Counsel.
"It's a completely inappropriate and frightening intermingling of government
power and the private sector. What's next - the government hires Candid
Camera to do its video surveillance?"

Ashcroft’s
Master Plan to Spy on Us 'Citizens Will Not Become Informants' --
by Nat Hentoff "This newest John Ashcroft battle plan in the war
on civil liberties would have us join the citizens of China, Cuba, Kazakhstan,
and other countries where there is ubiquitous surveillance for signs
of disloyalty to the state. Not only Joseph Stalin but also George Orwell
would have understood what John Ashcroft had in mind."

Bush
Wants ABM Treaty Case Tossed The Justice Department asked a federal
court Tuesday to dismiss a lawsuit filed by 31 House members challenging
pResident Bush's authority to withdraw the United States from the 1972
Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty.

Briefing
Depicted Saudis as Enemies A briefing given last month to a top
Pentagon advisory board described Saudi Arabia as an enemy of the United
States, and recommended that U.S. officials give it an ultimatum to
stop backing terrorism or face seizure of its oil fields and its financial
assets invested in the United States. [Bush
will ignore the briefing as 1) Bush does not read; and 2) the Saudis
are partners in Bush's terrorism.]

Pentagon
Targets 'Country X' Innovative war game program fine- tunes potential
U.S. attack on Iraq."Since July 24, the U.S. military has been
playing a $235 million wargame named Millennium Challenge 02 (MC 02),
one that Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld blandly says "will test
the forces and equipment that will help us judge and define both near-term
and future capabilities." The scenario for Millennium Challenge is classified.
All military spokesmen will say is that the
scenario includes an earthquake in Country X[Oh,
are we actually doing that now? See Conspiracy Theory.]
followed by chaos and a military coup and the taking of some islands
in a mythical part of the world where most of the oil lifelines exist.

Senate
didn't hear from Iraq experts -- by Sean Gonsalves "Last week's
Senate hearings on whether the United States should go to war in Iraq
could hardly be given much credibility by any serious student of U.S.-Iraq
policy, given the conspicuous absences of Iraq experts who offer indispensable
insight."

American
public left in dark on US war aims in Iraq The discussion that has
broken out in official Washington over when and how to go to war with
Iraq is in no sense a genuine public debate. Representatives of various
factions of the ruling elite—Bush mis-ministration officials, congressional
leaders of the Democratic and Republican parties, the military-intelligence
establishment—are weighing in. But the American people are excluded.

Rumsfeld
Seeks to Boost Intelligence Units Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld
said Tuesday that he and other Pentagon officials are considering "having
a somewhat more senior person overseeing the intelligence'' to make
sure "the focus is more laser-like'' on getting better information
for fighting the war on terrorism. The Pentagon also is looking at ways
to help military intelligence agencies work more closely with civilian
agencies such as the Central Intelligence Agency and the FBI.

The
return to Afghanistan: Collateral damage -- by Robert Fisk "President
[sic] George Bush's 'war on terror' reached the desert village of Hajibirgit
at midnight on 22 May. Haji Birgit Khan, the bearded, 85-year-old Pushtu
village leader and head of 12,000 local tribal families, was lying on
a patch of grass outside his home... A US military spokesman would claim
later that US soldiers had 'come under fire' in the village and had
killed one man and wounded two 'suspected Taliban or al-Qa'ida members'.
The implication – that 85-year-old Haji Birgit Khan was the gunman –
is clearly preposterous."

Justice
Dept. Recordkeeping Blasted The FBI, the Immigration and Naturalization
Service and other parts of the Justice Department have lost track of
hundreds of guns [?!? How do you "lose"
guns?? Next, they will blame the Clinton staff for the recordkeeping.]
and laptop computers, according to a report indicating that recordkeeping
problems at the agencies are even worse than previously disclosed.

Bush,
With Senate Absent, Fills a Top Agriculture Post The Idiot Usurper
appointed an Iowa farmer to a top position at the Agriculture Department
today, despite objections from members of Congress who said the man
had made racially insensitive comments and had circumvented federal
limits on farm subsidies. Senator Tom Harkin, the Iowa Democrat who
is chairman of the Senate Agriculture Committee, said tonight that Mr.
Bush was bypassing the Senate.

Barf
Alert!Karen
Hughes Back at Bush's Side pResident Bush's close confidante, Karen
Hughes, was back at his side on Tuesday, less than a month after leaving
the White House to return home to Texas. She got hugs from political
adviser [and Nazi] Karl Rove and national security adviser Condoleezza
Rice. She had dinner on Monday night with Vice pResident Dick Cheney's
top aide Mary Matalin and breakfast with Rice on Tuesday morning.

Voice
of steel More than 400 active and retired steel workers rallied
Monday at Point State Park, calling on President Bush to maintain tariffs
on steel imports and implement universal healthcare coverage.

Enron
Investigators Eye Foreign Contracts Federal prosecutors are investigating
whether or not Enron Corp. bribed foreign government
officials to win contracts abroad, the Wall Street Journal
reported on Monday. The Justice Department's Enron Task Force is examining
the energy company's non-U.S. operations for possible
criminal violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act,
the paper said citing government officials and lawyers close to the
case. [Are these bribes separate
from the 2.5 million Enron paid to install the Bush junta, not to mention
the money "donated" to the "recount" committee,
which outspent the Gore group 4-to1??]

Your
Tax Dollars At Work - for Halliburton And, Where's Waldo? Despite
charges that the company defrauded the Army on earlier contracts, Halliburton
subsidiary Brown & Root was granted an exclusive and unusually lucrative
defense contract barely three months after its former CEO, Dick Cheney,
became Vice pResident. The contract reportedly makes Brown & Root the
US Army's exclusive services supplier of US rapid deployment troops
over the next decade.

Halliburton
subsidiary overcame bid protest, fraud investigation to land military
contracts Since Dick Cheney became vice pResident, a subsidiary
of his former company was chosen the exclusive contractor for overseas
Army troop support and Navy construction despite being under federal
investigation for fraud. The Navy contract went to the Halliburton Co.
subsidiary, Brown & Root Services, despite a recommendation from the
auditing arm of Congress that new bids be solicited for the construction
contract. That recommendation was ignored.

Dow
Closes Down in Triple-Digit Loss Wall Street's hopes for a turnaround
dimmed Monday after another dose of disappointing economic news sent
the Dow Jones industrials down more than 270 points.

Stocks
Sag as Investors Fret over Economy Stocks sagged in mid-morning
trade on Monday, adding to two straight sessions of declines, as a slowdown
in growth in the U.S. service sector fed worries the nation's economic
recovery is stalling.

Economy
Stirs G.O.P. Worry in House Races Rising voter concern about the
nation's future, driven by an unsteady economy and unrest on Wall Street,
is stirring nervousness among some Republicans and lifting confidence
among Democratic leaders that their party could capture control of the
House in November.

Think
Like a Bush: Lie Coordination Bureau Needed -- by Al Martin "The
release of this week's economic statistics, particularly the Gross Domestic
Product numbers, indicate that the economy was weaker last year and
that economic growth in the first half of this year was also weaker
than first believed... The question then is -- why can't the government
get it right in the compilation of statistics? Of course, the reason
why is the because of the way the Reagan-Bush Regime rejiggered all
the economic statistics.

U.S.
drops case tied to Ashcroft's friend The U.S. Justice Department
said Friday that it would not pursue an antitrust case pushed by a St.
Louis lawyer who is a friend of Attorney General John Ashcroft's.

Bush
held up plan to hit Bin Laden The Bush mis-ministration sat on a
Clinton-era plan to attack al-Qaida in Afghanistan for eight months
because of political hostility to the outgoing president and competing
priorities, it was reported yesterday.

9/11
widows win support for commission A group of women who lost their
husbands in the collapse of the World Trade Center are beginning to
change some minds about the need for an independent commission to investigate
the Sept. 11 attacks. Their next target: pResident Bush.

Post-9/11
security hinders access at capitols Welcome to Fortress USA. Checkpoints,
fences and concrete barricades now interrupt the serene vistas that
famed landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted designed for the leafy
grounds of the U.S. Capitol.

UN
chief warns against Iraq war Kofi Annan, the secretary general of
the United Nations, warned yesterday against any military assault on
Iraq to topple Saddam Hussein while violence rages between Israel and
the Palestinians.

German
leader says no to Iraq war German chancellor Gerhard Schröder and
his Social Democratic party yesterday broke ranks with America's other
European allies by declaring at the start of their election campaign
that Germany would refuse to provide troops or money for an invasion
of Iraq.

10,000
Iraqis demonstrate against U.S. About 10,000 Iraqis rallied outside
ruling party headquarters Monday in a demonstration against U.S. military
threats, burning effigies of pResident Bush and American flags.

The
logic of empireThe US is now a threat to the rest of the
world. The sensible response is non-cooperation -- by George Monbiot
"There is something almost comical about the prospect of George
Bush waging war on another nation because that nation has defied international
law. Since Bush came to office, the United States government has torn
up more international treaties and disregarded more UN conventions than
the rest of the world has in 20 years." "...the greatest threat
to world peace is not Saddam Hussein, but George Bush. The nation that
in the past has been our firmest friend is becoming instead our foremost
enemy." "As the US government discovers that it can threaten
and attack other nations with impunity, it will surely soon begin to
threaten countries that have numbered among its allies. As its insatiable
demand for resources prompts ever bolder colonial adventures, it will
come to interfere directly with the strategic interests of other quasi-imperial
states. As it refuses to take responsibility for the consequences of
the use of those resources, it threatens the rest of the world with
environmental disaster. It has become openly contemptuous of other governments
and prepared to dispose of any treaty or agreement that impedes its
strategic objectives. It is starting to construct a new generation of
nuclear weapons, and appears to be ready to use them preemptively. It
could be about to ignite an inferno in the Middle East, into which the
rest of the world would be sucked."

Japan
launches compulsory ID network Privacy advocates angry about 'Big
Brother' aspects -- Japan launched a compulsory ID system Monday aimed
at bringing government into the electronic age in the face of stiff
protests calling it a violation of privacy and a temptation to hackers.

Bush
Signs Bill on Abortion Procedures pResident Bush signed a bill today
that he called a step toward further restrictions on abortion, reopening
a debate that has been largely quiet since his inauguration.

Fla.
Judge Strikes Down Voucher Law Just weeks before the start of the
school year, a judge struck down Florida's voucher law Monday, saying
the state constitution forbids the use of tax money to send youngsters
to religious schools.

Florida
Considers Ballot Change State election officials were considering
changing the ballot for the Democratic gubernatorial primary after the
party complained that the wording could confuse voters in a rerun of
the 2000 p-residential tally [coup d'etat].

Florida
primary could be confusing, Democrats warn The ballot for the high-profile
Democratic gubernatorial primary has confusing instructions that could
cause the same problems that marked the 2000 p-residential s-election
[coup d'etat], Democrats say.

US
court declares it has no jurisdiction over Guantanamo A US court
has found that it has no jurisdiction in Guantanamo, Cuba, and refused
to hear a suit by relatives seeking the release of Australian David
Hicks and other foreigners accused as Taliban or al-Qaeda fighters held
by the US military there.

Baghdad
slams US for rejecting UN disarmament talks The state-run Baghdad
media yesterday slammed the United States for rejecting Iraq's invitation
to the chief UN weapons inspector to visit Baghdad to discuss the resumption
of inspections halted in December 1998.

Double
warning against Iraq war Brent Scowcroft, the National Security
Adviser during the Gulf War, warned pResident Bush yesterday that invading
Iraq would cause an “explosion” in the Middle East and consign the United
States to defeat in its War on Terror.

Bush
oils war machine amid cries of caution Pressure is building on pResident
Bush to explain his case against Saddam Hussein, Paul McGeough writes.
"President [sic] George Bush is becoming more isolated in his drive
to topple Saddam Hussein as intense political and media questioning
of his case against the Iraqi leader and of the Pentagon's planning
for the push to Baghdad sends a warning to the White House that, so
far, no such case has been made."

War
with Iraq likely, says senior Democrat Chances of a diplomatic solution
to the US stand-off with Iraq appeared remote yesterday when a senior
Democrat, who chaired the first public hearings on possible invasion
plans, said war was now likely.

Lawmakers
Want Notice Before Iraq War War against Iraq is likely, said a senator
exploring U.S. options, and other lawmakers joined him Sunday in pressing
the Bush Fourth Reich to make the case to Congress before any attack.

Fighter
plane's laser may blind civilians American defence contractors are
developing a laser weapon for fighter aircraft that may be powerful
enough to blind people on the ground, even if they are relatively far
from the target, New Scientist can reveal.

Drug
Costs Become Election Issue "As the election gets closer, this issue
will get hotter," said Bernie Horn, policy director for the Center for
Policy Alternatives, which has helped states like Maine develop discount
plans. "Unless there's another big terrorist
attack, [I hope the Bush Fourth Reich does not
read this statement as Bush's slump in the polls could lead to Armageddon!
As it is, I am sure Bush is trolling for terrorism even as we speak
and his poll numbers sink, on his pseudo-"vacation."]
the general election will be about protecting Social Security and prescription
drug coverage."

Judge
Lets Florida Voting Suit Proceed A federal judge has rejected state
attempts to avoid trial over presidential election problems that kept
blacks from voting in Florida. The state asked for a summary judgment
to kill the lawsuit by the NAACP and other civil rights groups without
a trial. ["election problems?? Who are
we kidding??? We're talking bona fide coup d'etat!!]

Harris's
Hanging Chad: Does Resignation Count? Katherine Harris, who became
famous as Florida secretary of state presiding over the 2000 presidential
election recount, announced last week that she is resigning -- retroactively,
beginning two weeks ago -- but that she is still, nevertheless, the
secretary of state. Confused? So are Florida Democrats.

Broken
Promises and Political Deception -- by Al Gore "For
well over a year, the Bush administration has used its power in the
wrong way. In the election of 2000, I argued that the Bush-Cheney
ticket was being bankrolled by 'a new generation of special interests,
power brokers who would want nothing better than a pliant president
who would bend public policy to suit their purposes and profits.' Some
considered this warning 'anti-business.' It was nothing of the sort.
I believe now, as I said then, that 'when powerful interests try to
take advantage of the American people, it's often other businesses that
are hurt in the process' - smaller companies that play by the rules."

President
Gore Chides Party Critics Stung by criticism of his 2000 campaign
by Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman and other party moderates, President Al
Gore portrayed himself today as a passionate champion of the underdog
as he struck back, calling their tactics "bad politics and wrong in
principle." [Lieberman acts as if there IS a center in American politics!
Actually, Joe, the center is a vast chasm standing between the rabid
rightwing defenders of fascist, corporate government, and the majority
against whom the corporate media and the rightwing government war on
a continual basis. The "middle" is a myth, an abstract average, a death
valley where nothing really lives!]

In
Effort to Simplify Ballot, Florida Adds More Problems The ballot
blues just won't go away in Florida. "It's a mess," said Bob Poe, head
of the Florida Democratic Party. He said his party would ask election
officials to change the ballot or, as a last resort, take the matter
to court.

After
Sept. 11, a Legal Battle Over Limits of Civil Liberty (The New
York Times) In the fearful aftermath of Sept. 11, Attorney General
John Ashcroft vowed to use the full might of the federal government
and "every available statute" to hunt down and punish "the terrorists
among us." The roundup that followed the attacks, conducted with wartime
urgency and uncommon secrecy, led to the detentions of more than 1,200
people suspected of violating immigration laws, being material witnesses
to terrorism or fighting for the enemy. The government's effort has
produced few if any law enforcement coups.

Lawmakers
Decline FBI Lie-Detector Tests The FBI has asked lawmakers on the
U.S. House of Representatives and Senate intelligence committees whether
they would take lie-detector tests in an investigation of leaked "secret
information," government sources said on Friday. But lawmakers
generally have taken the stance that they should not submit to polygraph
examinations conducted by the FBI because that would breach the constitutional
separation of powers between the legislative and executive branches
of the federal government.

Police
'infuriated' over FBI program A new FBI program designed to provide
local police with intelligence reports on potential terrorism is sputtering
because many police officials believe the application process is too
long and intrusive. They also say the reports aren't that valuable.

Rumsfeld
Pushes for New Pentagon Intelligence Czar Secretary of Defense [and
rightwing nutcase] Donald Rumsfeld, in a very quiet maneuver, has all
but gotten Congress to create a new Pentagon position of undersecretary
of defense for intelligence. When the position is created, Rumsfeld’s
Pentagon will get to keep key intelligence assets like the National
Security Agency and the National Reconnaissance Office that were likely
to have been taken from the military and turned over to the CIA.

Bush
ready to declare war Split opens between Britain and US as White
House targets Saddam Hussein -- pResident Bush will announce within
weeks that he intends to depose Iraq's ruler, Saddam Hussein, by force,
setting the stage for a war in the Gulf this winter. Amid signs of active
preparations for a war within six months, senior officials on both sides
of the Atlantic have said that war against Iraq is now inevitable.

Colin
Powell joins call for 'regime change' The United States' determination
to remove Saddam Hussein from power was bolstered further yesterday
when even Secretary of State Colin Powell, the most cautious senior
member of the Bush Fourth Reich, joined in the rejection of Iraq's latest
peace offering on weapons inspections. [The
question is, was Powell talking about a 'regime change' in Iraq, or
in the United States? Both countries are, after all, ruled by unelected
tyrants. The only difference is, Bush has lighter skin, more "weapons
of mass destruction," and the unmitigated gall and idiocy to use them
at a moment's notice, anytime he needs to gain political, economic or
just plain 'bully' points.]

Germany
Cautions U.S. On Iraq Action Germany backs U.S. efforts to combat
terrorism, but its "checkbook" may not be open to support
an American attack against Iraq, Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder said Saturday.

U.S.
To Patrol Colombian Skies A U.S. surveillance plane will patrol
above Colombia next week as part of the security plan to prevent a terrorist
attack during the presidential inauguration.

Hardliners
in Iran want to down US jets The threat of war in Iraq has widened
the gap between conservatives and reformers in Iran. Although they have
closed ranks in public to denounce any US-led strikes, in private they
could hardly be further apart. Hardliners say British and US planes
should be shot down by Iran if they attack Iraq, but reformers are horrified
by the prospect of a war on Saddam Hussein embracing them too.

Bush's
Shame -- by Thomas L. Friedman "Watching the pathetic, mealy-mouthed
response of President [sic] Bush and his State Department to Egypt's
decision to sentence the leading Egyptian democracy advocate to seven
years in prison leaves one wondering whether the whole Bush foreign
policy team isn't just a big bunch of phonies. Shame on all of them."["Mr.
Ibrahim's 'crime' was that his institute at the American University
in Cairo was helping to teach Egyptians how to register to vote, how
to fill out a ballot and how to monitor elections." No wonder Bush isn't
defending Ibrahim! Bush doesn't like votes, ballots, or monitored elections!
He wouldn't be in office if such a procedure had taken place in Florida
in the year 2000!]

Bank
closes after suspicious envelope found (FL) An envelope with a suspicious
white powder inside forced the closing of a First Union bank Friday
afternoon and sent two of its employees to the hospital as a precautionary
measure.

Bush
approval ratings plunge 28 points in CT A Quinnipiac University
poll Thursday showed pResident Bush's Connecticut approval ratings have
dropped drastically from post-Sept. 11 levels. Bush's overall approval
rating in the state is now at 59 percent, down 28 percentage points
from his all-time high of 87 percent in December.

Judge
Orders U.S. to Release Names of 9/11 Detainees A federal judge ruled
today that the Bush mis-ministration had no right to conceal the identities
of hundreds of people arrested after the Sept. 11 terror attacks, and
she ordered that most of their names be released within 15 days.

Judge
Orders Names of 9/11 Detainees Released A federal judge in Washington
yesterday ordered the Justice Department to release the names of more
than 1,000 people detained in the investigation of the Sept. 11 terrorist
attacks, saying the information was essential to verifying that the
government is "operating within the bounds of the law."

FBI
Targeting Congress In Probe of Terror Leaks Angry House and Senate
members assail the investigation's scope and question requests for polygraph
tests -- Many Spurn Polygraph Requests on Issue
of NSA's 9/11 Intercept FBI agents have questioned nearly
all 37 members of the Senate and House intelligence committees and have
asked many if they would be willing to submit to lie detector tests
as part of a broad investigation into leaks of classified information
related to the Sept. 11 attacks, according to officials involved in
the inquiry.

Four
Sue American Airlines Over Search Four New Jersey men are suing
American Airlines, claiming they were wrongly removed from an airplane
in March and strip-searched because of their Arabic names. The men,
who filed a lawsuit on Friday, say they were headed home from a Florida
vacation when airline officials asked them to get off the plane prior
to takeoff.

Aggressive,
Covert Hits On Terror Groups Sought Rumsfeld is pondering new missions
for the U.S. counteroffensive -- The chief of the U.S. Special Operations
Command proposed a series of aggressive new covert actions against al
Qaeda and other terrorist groups in a closed-door meeting with Defense
Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld yesterday, part of a new Pentagon initiative
to "reenergize" the 10-month-old counteroffensive against
terrorism. [That's right, they have to 're-energize'
the "war on terrorism," because 1) the economic war on the American
people by Repugnican Bidness is becoming too conspicuous, 2) there's
oil to be got, and 3) Bush is a blood-thirsty barbarian.]

Rumsfeld
Moves to Strengthen His Grip on Military Intelligence Defense Secretary
Donald H. Rumsfeld is moving to strengthen his control over the military's
intelligence apparatus, and his first step has been to propose a civilian
post reporting directly to him to manage the vast and expensive operation.
His effort to establish a new position, the undersecretary of defense
for intelligence, potentially sets up a turf war for dominance over
the American intelligence community. [Fascists
always like to strengthen their grip over "intelligence"--a misnomer
as applied here.]

Powell
Dismisses Iraqi Gesture Secretary of State Colin Powell dismissed
an offer by Iraq to talk with the chief weapons inspector of the United
Nations. [No, the US wants war to deflect attention
away from the Bush economic disaster, corporate scandal and his and
Cheney's own involvement in it. We don't want to see that Iraq DOESN'T
have any weapons of mass destruction. That would keep the dog from wagging...]

Britain
and US dismiss Iraqi offer The US and Britain dismissed Iraq's invitation
for the chief United Nations weapons inspector to come for talks in
Baghdad yesterday, depicting it as a ploy to avoid serious inspections
while fending off the threat of a US-led invasion.

Australian
involvement likely, says Howard Prime Minister [and rightwing nutcase]
John Howard expects pResident Bush will launch an attack against Iraq
- and that Australia will be asked to help. The Prime Minister yesterday
described United States action as "more probable than not".

Florida
Lawsuit to be Filed Against Harris Candice Brown McElyea, a former
TV reporter and one of four Democrats seeking the same seat, said she
would file a lawsuit today in Sarasota County challenging Harris' place
on the Sept. 10 primary ballot. Harris is squaring off against Republican
John Hill in the primary. ''She always thinks she's above the law,''
Brown McElyea said. ''No rules or regulations ever apply to her. She's
in charge of the Division of Elections. If anyone would know the law,
it should be her.''

Katherine
Harris Steps Down Katherine Harris resigned Thursday as Florida
secretary of state and made the move retroactive to July 15, saying
she had misunderstood the rules [?!?] about when she had to quit to
run for Congress. [Harris also "misunderstood the rules" in the 2000
[p]residential s-election, when she illegally purged voters from the
rolls, willfully "misunderstood" state laws protecting the "intent of
the voters" and arbitrated a selection of Bush as his campaign manager
in the most biased manner possible. She should have "stepped down" two
years ago!!! Step down!"]

Again,
Election Confusion for the Florida Secretary of State "She couldn't
even resign properly." Here they go again. Florida elections officials
and political candidates are confused about another election. And once
again, the controversy involves Katherine Harris, who is leaving her
post as Florida secretary of state to run for Congress. She did not
follow state elections procedures regarding her candidacy and, after
realizing the rule-breaking, was forced today to do a bit of damage
control. [Harris is two weeks late in filing, but when Palm Beach
missed a deadline set by Harris by two hours, she THREW OUT THEIR VOTES!]

Bush
Faces Questions on Offshore Affiliates pResident Bush said yesterday
that he is troubled by the creation of offshore affiliates by U.S. companies
to avoid paying taxes, a practice that lawmakers are trying to restrict.
Bush's comments coincided with disclosures that companies connected
to Bush and Vice pResident Cheney created such offshore entities. [Said
the Bush, the moron, "I think American companies ought to pay taxes
here, and be good citizens." Note to Bush: Companies are not "CITIZENS!"
Maybe this belief is what gave Bush the idea that companies had the
right vote -- and stop the counting of the legal votes of REAL citizens
-- in the 2000 [p]residential [s]election.]

GOP
Plan To Limit Lobbyists Targeted The Senate ethics committee, reacting
to a controversial document being assembled by Republican activists,
plans to warn senators today not to use political affiliation as a basis
for deciding who gets access to them or their staffs. The committee's
warning comes in response to a Washington Post report in June
that Republicans were researching the party affiliation and campaign
donations of hundreds of lobbyists, as a way to deny government access
and jobs to those who don't share their political views.

Apartment
Searched Anew in F.B.I.'s Anthrax Inquiry Federal investigators
seeking evidence related to last year's deadly anthrax attacks searched
the apartment of a former Army scientist today for a second time, government
officials said. Armed with a search warrant, F.B.I. agents wearing protective
gloves went through the apartment of the scientist, Steven J. Hatfill,
and trash bins outside his multiunit building in Fort Detrick, Md.

Anthrax
Clues Sought at Army Researcher's Apartment FBI and Postal Service
agents wearing protective gloves conducted a second search Thursday
at the apartment of a former Army researcher considered a "person of
interest" ["Person of
Interest." That's a euphemism when a rightwinger
is a suspect
in any criminal investigation.]
in the investigation of last year's deadly anthrax mailings.

Bush
mis-ministration moves to stifle discovery in 9/11 lawsuits The
Bush mis-ministration and the Department of Justice are moving to suppress
evidence that could be used in discovery proceedings in several civil
lawsuits resulting from the September 11 attack on the World Trade Center.
In June, US District Judge Alvin Hellerstein was informed in a letter
that the Justice Department intends to intervene
to control access to all evidence and documents related to the 9/11
attacks.

War
on Terrorism or Police State? -- by Rep. Cynthia McKinney "We
must be certain that the War on Terrorism does not threaten our liberties
again. Amendments to H.R. 4547, the Costs of War Against Terrorism Act,
that would increase the role of drug interdiction task forces to include
counter intelligence, and that would increase the military intelligence's
ability to conduct electronic and financial investigations, can be the
first steps towards a return to the abuses of constitutional rights
during the Cold War."

The
war for votes -- by Bridget Gibson "The mid-term elections
are looming ever closer. The disgraceful corporate corruption that has
lined the pockets of many politicians' campaigns for power is proving
too great a distraction from the work at hand. Backroom meetings and
off-the-record discussions have yielded the new marching orders: war
must be made and the polls must again reflect support for George Bush's
command of the machine."

Study:
Yucca volcano near planned nuke waste storage dump [This is not
a good plan, Dumb-ya!] Volcanic eruption at Yucca Mountain could do
more damage than previously thought, possibly forcing radioactive waste
from its burial site to the surface, according to a new study. If long-dormant
volcanoes near the prospective high-level nuclear waste dump sprang
back to life, molten rock moving at up to 600 mph could fill the repository
deep beneath the Nevada desert within hours, said an article in the
July issue of Geophysical Research Letters, a publication of the American
Geophysical Union.

Florida
Recount Funded by Enron/HalliburtonAccording to papers filed
with the IRS on July 15, nearly $14 million magically poured into the
Bush/Cheney Florida recount effort - four times the amount raised by
the Gore/Lieberman camp.The Bush campaign took in $13.8 million,
most in large contributions. Listed among those large contributors wereEnron and Halliburton.

Questions
on Halliburton Deal Under Cheney With Washington focused on corporate
responsibility, Vice pResident Dick Cheney's tenure as chief executive
of Halliburton is under scrutiny from government investigators and his
political opponents.

Hush
Money for Halliburton? Administration's Economic C-Team A controversial
Halliburton subsidiary was granted the contract to build additional
high-security housing for terrorist suspects being held at Guantanamo
Bay, Cuba. The $9.7 million contract was given to Halliburton construction
subsidiary, Brown & Root Services.

Bush
co. went offshore Harken Energy set up Caymans subsidiary in '89
-- Harken Energy Corp. set up an offshore subsidiary in the Cayman Islands
tax haven while pResident Bush sat on Harken's board of directors in
1989, the Daily News has learned.

Bush
[the Fraud] Starts Gutting Corporate Fraud Bill Eight Hours After he
Signed the Measure Lawmakers criticized White House action on a
brand-new law cracking down on corporate fraud, saying pResident Bush
was weakening the measure mere hours after signing it. Eight hours after
the Fraud signed the corporate fraud bill, the White House quietly issued
a statement outlining how it was interpreting several provisions, including
one that grants federal protection to corporate whistle-blowers who
present Congress with information that books had been cooked or investors
misled.

Economic
Growth Slowed Sharply in the 2nd Quarter The U.S. economy lost momentum
in the second quarter of this year, growing at an annual rate of just
1.1 percent. New government figures Wednesday also showed that last
year's recession was worse than previously thought and the economy actually
shrank in three quarters of 2001.

Justice
Dept. Investigating AOL's Accounting The Justice Department is investigating
accounting practices at AOL Time Warner Inc., the company confirmed
Wednesday. The media giant already is being investigated by the Securities
and Exchange Commission.

This
Delivery Guy Won't Spy -- by Butch Taylor "I've been reading,
with a great deal of concern, about the Justice Department's proposed
Terrorism Information and Prevention System... Now I see that the same
people who last summer thwarted an F.B.I. field office investigation
of Zacarias Moussaoui, the alleged 20th hijacker in the Sept. 11 attack,
want to enlist every goober who installs phone lines or delivers pizza
to be the next Ace Ventura terrorist detective."

Air
Power Alone Can’t Defeat Iraq, Rumsfeld Asserts Defense Secretary
[and rightwing nutcase] Donald H. Rumsfeld said today that air power
alone would not destroy all of Iraq's "weapons of mass destruction."
Asked today about the choices, Rumsfeld said, "We don't talk about specific
plans."

Generals,
Bush Officials Split Over Iraq Plan Military Cautious, Civilians
Intent on Toppling Hussein -- Much of the senior uniformed military,
with the notable exception of some top Air Force and Marine generals,
opposes going to war anytime soon, a stance that is provoking frustration
among civilian officials in the Pentagon and in the White House.

No
Presidential War -- by Ivo H. Daalder and James M. Lindsay "Those
who believe Bush can initiate such action [overthrowing Saddam Hussein]
on his own authority are profoundly mistaken. The notion that he can
runs counter to the most fundamental tenets of our constitutional system."

Iran
Tells Its Forces to Prepare for U.S. Attack Iran's army chief said
on Wednesday his forces had been told to make preparations for a possible
attack by the United States on the Islamic Republic, which Washington
has accused of supporting terrorism.

The
Climes They Are A-Changin' The Indisputable Science of Global Warming
-- by Mike Romoth "Across northern India this year, record-breaking
heat storms arrived before the monsoon, raising the temperature to 123
degrees in the shade—so hot that the birds were dropping dead from the
trees."

Italian
police planted petrol bombs on G8 summit protesters Italian police
planted two Molotov cocktails in a school where anti-globalisation pro-testers
were sleeping to justify a brutal crackdown during last year's G8 summit
in Genoa. A policeman has confessed that he planted the explosives following
a year of acrimony over the handling of security at the summit where
a protester was shot dead by the police.